


Only The Weak Are Not Lonely

by WhiteWinds



Series: The Fire Fox Club [1]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Feel-good, Feelings, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Music, LATER, M/M, Mischief, Music, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Reflection, Singing, Song fic, Support, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, are you reallly that surpise from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 67,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteWinds/pseuds/WhiteWinds
Summary: Love is a tricky business. It can be kind one minute, but unforgiving the next.Angel Dust has been in that business for a long time to see that most of the time that love and lust are the very same thing to demons here in Hell. But to those, and on rare occasions, can they be separated into two. And after all these years Angel may have found someone that he can separate the two. But will he’s love be accepted, or will he be doomed to admire from afar as he watches the one he loves being charmed away by others.-------------Or, Angel gets very jealous of how close Alastor and Mimzy are and made a drunk decision that he may, or  may not, regret of doing in order to win Alastor's heart.Based off of ????????????
Relationships: Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor/Mimzy (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel)
Series: The Fire Fox Club [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983427
Comments: 86
Kudos: 334





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my poll winner on my Twitter that anyone wanted me to do next. I'm really excited for this one which I think you all will enjoy!
> 
> So believe it or not, this is also a song fic too. But I'm not going to reveal what song it is until the last chapter where it will be played. I want to see if you guys can guess what song it is, but you can't google it since that's cheating. But know despite that the last two that I did, I'm not a huge fan of that genre. While this one I'm a HUGE fan of this genre. Throughout the story I will try to give hints to what the song is.
> 
> Please enjoy everyone.

Ah, there was nothing like the smell of sulfur in the air and the earth shacking under your feet to get the adrenaline pumping. God, Angel Dust loved turf wars with Cherri.

  
“Haha!” Cherri’s laughter could be heard from somewhere over the explosions and tummy guns in Angel’s hands. The feeling of a tummy gun in Angel’s hands always brought a comfort to him, a memory of the good old days in the mafia when he went out and shot his enemies down or anyone that crossed the family. Cherri has tried to get him to use some of the more modern weapons, but the old classics have never failed him before and he was sticking with it.

  
This turf war was unexpected for he and Cherri weren’t planning on getting into a huge brawl with anyone today. They were just out, having a girls’ day, doing some shopping and getting manicures. Until this big old ugly rat demon suddenly started to invade on Cherri’s turf and threaten to take it. And of course Cherri being Cherri Bomb, she didn’t back down from a challenge, nor did Angel.

  
The shopping bags laid somewhere off on the side from the action, away from getting damage for Angel would hate to have his new clothes ruin by some low life demon thinking he could get the jump on them. And those were actually some of the few items he actually bought then shoplift, plus they were a high brand so it was impossible to shoplift their items because they had such tight security.

  
Back to the fight, the ugly rat demon didn’t come alone for he also had a few cronies to back him up in the fight. These guys were nothing like the Egg Bois that always followed Sir EdgeLord around, mindlessly following orders that could lead them to their ultimate death and wouldn’t even realize it. No these guys were tougher and smarter, proving to be a real challenge for both Angel and Cherri. But that was okay, they liked a challenge. It was no fun killing pushover demons that had no brains to begin with that can’t even think for themselves. 

  
Although, it would be a little nice that some of these cronies weren’t fans of his.

  
Angel shot at the weasel demon that got a little too close for comfort, almost not noticing a scrawny bug demon coming up from behind to make a grab for him. These were one of the few times that Angel was grateful for being a spider demon for he could feel the vibrations of their footsteps behind him and made a giant jump in the air, escaping just in time to see the bug demon land flat on his face.

  
“Ah, come on Angel,” whined the weasel demon, “Is that anyway to treat a fan that just only wants to show you how much we appreciate your work?”  
Angel rolled his eyes. These were the kind of guys that he hated the most.

  
“I can tell,” Angel put on his best flirtiest smile as he batted his eyelashes, “Your little friend down there has already let me know. And I do mean little friend,” he giggled, causing the weasel to blush in angrier while trying to cover himself.

  
The bug demon scrambled up onto his feet, pulling a dagger from his back pocket.

  
“Oh, I’m so scared. Bring a knife to a gun fight!” Angel mocked as he began shooting them again.

  
Angel laughed in utter glee as he watched the two demons quickly scramble behind cover to avoid being shot.

  
“Hey! Watch it!” Cherri’s cursing could be heard over Angel’s guns, causing him to pause and look over to Cherri’s direction, looks like she was having some trouble with the main boss and his two other lackeys.

  
Forgetting the two he was shooting at Angel made another giant leap towards Cherri’s direction, landing in front of her as he started shooting at them. Unlike the other two before, these guys were prepared as they brought out their own guns and started shooting at them.

  
“Shit!” Angel cursed as he and Cherri hid behind a broken wall.

  
“These sons of bitches ain’t half bad,” Cherri admitted, pulling a bomb out.

  
“That’s a big complement coming from you,” Angel watched Cherri light the bomb and threw it at the demons that were still shooting at them.

  
“That’s because they can at least put up a good fight!”

  
The bomb exploded, screams could be heard.

  
Angel carefully peeked around the wall to only withdraw when bullets flew by him.

  
“Looks like the rest of the rat pack joined them,” Angel commented when he noted it was the bug and weasel that were shooting at them now. Of course now they decided to draw out their guns.

  
“Looks like we might be in a tough spot,” Cherri tried to look herself but met with the same results as Angel.

  
They stopped shooting them, a good sign, but instead they could hear footsteps starting to approach, bad sign.

  
“Looks like we might have to go down in a blaze of glory,” declared Cherri as she pulled more bombs out.

  
“Tch,” Angel reloaded, “Like I would lose too scumbags like these.”

  
“You ready?”

  
“You know it sugar tits.”

  
They booth stood together, ready to jump out from-

  
“AHHH!!!”

  
A sicken sound of flesh being cut stopped the two from jumping out when more screams came.

  
Angel and Cherri quietly drew further back into their hiding spot as they listen to the carnage on the other side. Shit. This was bad. Whatever was happening on the other side of the wall it wasn’t good from what they heard. It wasn’t unusual that outside parties would join in the turf wars, either at the chance to expand their own turf or just to cause as much chaos as possible. 

  
The carnage cared on for another two minutes, for whoever was still alive was trying to fend off the new player with little chance of succeeding. The only sign they had that it was over was when the rat demon’s head rolling pass Cherri, startling her as she jumped back and grabbed onto Angel’s arm.

  
Ew, the bastard was even uglier up close.

  
Angel kicked the head away as Cherri let go of his arm and bravely looked around the corner to see what happened.

  
It was an ugly scene, body parts everywhere, blood painting the ground, the walls, and pieces of rubble from their fight. There were organs everywhere as well that Cherri couldn’t even make out what they were since they were so damaged and sliced into pieces. And standing at the center of it all was one demon that looked to be completely clean of the carnage with no sign of injury, grinning as if he didn’t just slaughter five demons.

  
“Hey Angie,” Cherri smirked as she stood from her hiding spot and looked to Angel, “Your chaperon is here for ya.”

  
His chaperon?

  
Curious to what Cherri mean by that, Angel stood up and looked around the wall to only groan at the sight.

  
“Angel dear!” Alastor greeted cheerfully.

  
“Al!” Angel came out and stepped towards the Radio Demon, ignoring the mess, “What in Hell’s name are you doing here?”

  
Alastor continued to grin as he looked at Angel as if he just said the silliest thing ever, “It’s two o’clock. It’s time for the group section.”

  
“Is it really that late already?” Angel muttered as he pulled his Hellphone out to see that it was already a quarter pass two.

  
“Come along now, dear. Charlie is quite worried and asked me to come and find you. We don’t want to keep her waiting,” Alastor began to turn on his heel before he stopped and nodded to Cherri, “Miss. Cherri.”

  
Cherri remained where she stood, making no attempt to get closer to the famous Radio Demon. She’ll admit when Alastor started to come and get Angel from her at the princess’s request, she freaked out big time and wondered why one of Hell’s biggest powerhouses came for Angel. It was only after Angel calmly explained to Cherri that Alastor is only doing what Charlie asked to come and get him and bring him back to the hotel. He was not here to harm Angel. She didn’t believe him at first but after the first few times that Alastor came to get him, she saw that he wasn’t going to harm them as long as Cherri kept her distance and showed the respect that Alastor deserved.

  
“Thanks for the help. You kind of pulled us out of a tight spot,” said Cherri, smiling.

  
Alastor didn’t bother to correct her that he did it out of his own desire to kill the demons and simply laughed and began walking towards the direction of the hotel.

  
“Hey wait up!” Angel called out to Alastor as he dropped his guns by Cherri’s feet, “Talk to ya later,” and then rushed off to grab his bags and chased after Alastor.

  
Said demon didn’t bother to look behind him to see if Angel was following or not, nor did he slow his stride. The only sign that he had was the sound of running footsteps behind him. Once Angel caught up with him, he slowed and walked beside Alastor, with his bags in his arms, while fixing his hair.  
“You could have waited for me, asshole.” Angel muttered, trying to get the desired fluff of his hair.

  
“Why would I do that when I knew you were more than capable to follow,” Alastor chuckled.

  
Angel rolled his eyes. Such a dickheaded response but what else did he expect from Alastor. But it made Angel smiled either way.

  
This would not be the first time that Alastor had come to fetch Angel on Charlie’s behave. In fact it started to become quite the routine between the two. Angel would go out on the days of his sections, missing his schedule appointments to the point that Charlie had to go fetch him. But with more guests checking into the hotel it wasn’t as easy for her to look for Angel anymore so she had to turn to Alastor to do the task, knowing that he could find Angel quicker with his shadows. The first few times when his shadows would find Angel, he was angry at Alastor for the bastard either cut his fun short or simply cut his clients. It really irritated him to the point he would yell and curse at Alastor as the smiling bastard would stand there with this large amused smile on his face as if Angel was some sort of dancing monkey. It continued on like that for several weeks until Angel finally gave up and just went with Alastor while he was escorted back to the hotel. He hated it at first, loathed it really, but as time went on, and many walks together with either light banter or small conversations. It wasn’t so bad.

  
These talks between them were nice for Angel. Where it was just the two of them and they could just talk freely with each other without the others around to bother them, or join in their conversations. Even some of their late night talks at the bar in hotel Huck was always lingering there, either ignoring them completely or join in a little bit while nursing a bottle before passing out on the floor. They talked about many things, from how the hotel was doing to the local news of the chaos that never ends in the city. And to Angel’s pleasant surprise he learned that Alastor shared a few things in common with him, the two most popular ones were cooking and music. 

  
It was nice to meet someone that was passionate about cooking; one of the few lost arts down here in Hell that Angel quickly discovered when he arrived. His family used to own a restaurant in Brooklyn, a cover up for the mafia business, but was still a functioning Italian restaurant. His mother was the head cook and ran the place while his old man took care of mafia business. His older brother would help their pops while he and Molly mostly helped their mother. Angel’s mother taught them many family recipes that were handed down from her mother, which she got her mother. She even showed them a few recipes that she received from pops’ mother, and how to make fresh handmade pasta. Those days he cherished those moments the most and took everything that his mother taught him to heart. He probably would have made a fine chief if his pops didn’t make him work in the mafia. And being down here Angel has sadly lost that passion among all the sex, drugs, and alcohol, until Alastor started talking about his mother’s food and recipes. 

  
That old spark that Angel thought died long ago came to life as he listened to Alastor talk about his mother’s jambalaya recipe, the very same when he first came to the hotel and served it to everyone. It was one of the most delicious things that Angel has had in a very long time. Being a highly paid prostitute, as well as movie star in the porn industry, Angel was used to being pampered by high paid clients or Valentino when he was pleased with his work. The food he was treated to, prepared by some of the best chiefs of all Hell that people would pay top dollar to have some of their mouthwatering food to grace their taste their taste buds. But even with highly trained chiefs nothing beats good food that was filled with a mother’s love, and Angel could taste the love in Alastor’s food. Something that Angel can deeply appreciate. 

  
Music was the other thing they both shared. But honestly Angel shouldn’t have been surprised by that one since meeting Alastor for the first time he did a whole big dance number with a whole jazz band. It was cute to see him dress everyone in 1920s clothes, while singing and dancing with Charlie as she was totally in awe by everything he did, she wasn’t the only one; everyone was enjoying the performance other than Husk and Vaggie for two different reasons. 

  
To talk to someone about some of the old classics that he use to listen to as a kid was nice. There were songs on the radio that Angel remembered that he loved but could not remember what they were for the life of him. Alastor luckily helped him fill in those gasps when Angel sing a few words to him that help Alastor remember what song it was and who it was by. There were points it was a little frustrating to talk about only music that was anything before 1933 for Alastor refused to have anything to do with anything after that time period. The old prude. But it was still nice to talk about the old songs he heard as a kid and the shows they’ve seen in their days when they were alive. 

  
Angel always loved to dance and sing, ever since he was a kid. He and Molly would always dance around the room with the radio playing, sometimes acting the song out like it was a story. And as they got older they went out to the night clubs to dance the night away without a care in the world.   
Two passions of his that have been lost to him over time, until along came Alastor to rekindle those lost passions. A man that can rekindle that has long since pasted. Something that Angel has come to greatly admire for, as well as to help fan the flames of desire for the powerful demon.

  
Angel wasn’t ashamed to say that he developed a crush on Alastor, if you can even call it that. But how could anyone not resist a charming man like Alastor, once you get pass the terror and promise death that lingers around him. Even then Angel found in very charming and just made him want to chase after him harder. And the reactions he got were so adorable when he watched Alastor get so flustered. At first he thought his flirtatious nature was working Alastor up that it would only be a matter of time he came to look for Angel’s company. But sadly that was far from the case. What Husk told him one night, when he asked him about Alastor’s past relationships, he simply told Angel that he doesn’t have any and never bothered pressuring them for he held no interest for them. In other worlds, Alastor was ace. Dampening Angel’s mood a bit at the news, but didn’t stop him from trying.

  
No matter how many times Angel threw himself at Alastor, the amount of times he flirted with him, and just simply spend time with him, Alastor never told him to stop. There was still hope for Angel still and that Alastor may be interested in him, he hoped.

  
“Any idea what Charlie’s group session is about this time?” Angel asked.

  
Alastor spared him a glance, “She told you last night. Did you not hear her?”

  
“I was a little preoccupied at that time,” and that was texting with Cherri about making plans for today.

  
“Will then it will be entertaining to watch if you don’t know,” Alastor said mischievous. 

  
Angel didn’t like that, “What do you mean by that?”

  
Alastor didn’t answer him.

  
“Come on, Al!” Angel pleaded.

  
All he got was laughter from the demon as he continued on.

  
Yeah, he was defiantly an asshole alright. But he was an asshole that Angel fell for.

* * *

Refreshed and dressed more causal, Angel made his way to the conference room where the group sessions were being held.

  
Beside Angel, there were three other hotel guests here. 

  
First one was this little blue Anglerfish demon named Baxter. He was a scientist when he was alive, a mad one or not, no one knew for that was still debatable, even if Baxter claimed he wasn’t one. The reason for him being here was curiously for Charlie’s goals and to see how this experiment would work. He even went as far as to check himself into the hotel as a guest to see firsthand at this. All in the name of science! Or so he claims.

  
The next one was a little bit of a surprise, for this guest was actually a Hell born one. Crymini was a punk teenage hellhound that just showed up one day and demanded a room. Of course you can image how that went down when you have a grumpy cat managing the front desk and a rowdy dog barking orders at him. Yeah, it did not go well. But from what she explained to Charlie she needed a place to stay because her mom was bitching at her for something and that she just needed to get away to the point she was willing to put up with Charlie’s bullshit.

  
The last one was… well no one knew the reasoning for this. Villa was a poodle demon with so much pink and so much big hair that she put poor Angel to shame. She was very quiet and didn’t speak at all. In fact when she checked in, she just strolled up right to Husk, simply stood there and stared at him without a word. It freaked him out, as well as irritated him that this damn dog wouldn’t speak when he asked her questions. He almost preferred to have the damn Hellhound over this one.

  
All four hotel residence sat in a circle with Charlie and Vaggie. Charlie looked ecstatic as always while Vaggie shuffled through the cards with their plan for the day.

  
“Alright, now that we are all here we can get started,” said Charlie, “Before we get started on our plan for the day, does anyone want to share some of their accomplishments we’ve made so far?”

  
Silence. 

  
Charlie’s mood damped at this, “Come on guys. I’m sure someone made a little progress since we last had a group session.”

  
“I haven’t punched anyone in a week, does that count?” Crymini stated broadly.

  
“Yes! That’s awesome, Crymini! Anyone else?”

  
“I suppose I haven’t been experimenting on live test subjects for a while,” Baxter muttered as he thought of the last few weeks.

  
“There we go. That’s improvement!” said Charlie.

  
“I thought you said we are experiments here,” Angel pointed out to the short demon.

  
“True,” said Baxter.

  
Charlie sighed before she looked to Angel, “What about you, Angel?”

  
“Well, you will be happy to know I went out shopping with Cherri today. She wanted to shoplift a few items but I didn’t want to. I’ve got the cash to pay for it,” Angel causally leaned back in his chair, checking his nails.

  
Charlie’s face lit up at the news, “That really is great Angel, I’m so proud of you!”

  
“And then Cherri and I got into a fight with this rat and his goons.”

  
“Angel,” Charlie whined.

  
“What, they started it. They were trying to steal Cherri’s turf,” said Angel like it was no big deal.

  
“How many times do we have to tell you about getting into turf wars!?” Vaggie shot up in her seat, yelling at Angel.

  
“Yeah, but I didn’t start it. I just ended it.”

  
Vaggie growled, looking ready to strangle Angel.

  
“Okay, let’s move on!” Charlie exclaim, trying to save the situation.

  
“Hey, for all you know he could be defending himself from those fucking assholes. Who said he joined the fight,” Crymini added helpfully, or unhelpfully, depending who she’s doing it for.

  
“I didn’t start the fight. They were trying to hurt little old me for doing nothing. Do you really want them to hurt me, Vaggie,” Angel gave her those big old puppy dog eyes that only seem to piss her off.

  
“We’ll let this one go, Angel. Since you may have done it out of self-defense, which Vaggie and I can understand,” said Charlie as she tried to save this situation.

  
“Self-defense my ass,” Vaggie growled to Angel, not at Charlie.

  
Angel turned to the other residence of the hotel, a fake hurt expression with large eyes, “Do you see how she treats me. Why does Vaggie hate me so much,” he faked cried.

  
Crymini and Villa snickered while Baxter stared at him, looking confused by this whole situation.

  
From the corner of the room, covered in shadows, Alastor quietly watched the session in amusement as the whole thing started spiral out of control. He even had to bite back a chuckle a few times as he watch Angel purposely ruffle Vaggie’s feather. Ah, Alastor can always count on Angel to give him a show, whether he realized it or not.

  
After about another ten minutes or so Charlie managed to get everyone back on track and to start the plan they had for the session. At that point it got a little boring, Charlie did most of the talking, telling everyone to write down three of your favorite things on a large blanket card that Vaggie passed around. This exercise is to help everyone understand each other a little more and maybe give each other support in their addictions. Alastor tuned out after that, materializing a book in his hand as he picked up on the last chapter he was on.

  
Everyone that wrote down three of their favorite things was all pretty predictable, well except for Villa. Which everyone was a bit taken back by hers. Charlie decided that she might have to do some extra one on one sessions with Villa later. 

  
Charlie liked to think that the session was helpful. There were a couple of some good ideas that everyone came up with to substitute addictions, even if they were just joking, but Charlie still thought it was great ideas and wanted to give them a try. And some of them were for Angel, who wasn’t so keen on trying. 

  
“Alright, I think we’ll call it a day,” Charlie declared, “Great work everyone! I feel like we are making progress!”

  
“I won’t call it progress,” Angel muttered quietly, already done with this.

  
“Now remember for next week, I want everyone to at least start a new hobby to help replace one addiction. This should help you focus on-“

  
“Can we go already?” Crymini interrupted Charlie.

  
Vaggie glared at her for interruption, “No, you stay here until we’re finish.”

  
“It’s okay, Vaggie,” Charlie jumped in, “Everyone was good for the most part and I believe they know what to do now.”

  
“Yeah, yeah, I got shit I need to do,” Crymini waved Charlie off as she left the room.

  
“I will be interested to see if new habits can replace old habits. Human nature has difficulty adjusting when they set in a comfortable routine that they wish not to break from. Which also questions how well their minds can handle the sudden adjustments to it,” Baxter muttered to no one but himself as he left.

  
Villa stood and quietly followed Baxter out.

  
“Well, that was enlightening,” Angel stood and stretched, ignoring the glare from Vaggie as he stood up.

  
“Where are you going? We are not done talking about that turf war,” Vaggie hissed.

  
“You’re still seriously hung up on that. Look, I mean it when I say I didn’t start anything. Those bastards really came after us with the intention of taking what was Cherri’s. I really did defend myself,” said Angel.

  
He wasn’t really lying. Those guys did come after them with intention of hurting both him and Cherri.

  
“We’ll let this one slide for now, Angel,” Charlie spoke, “Just try not put yourself into that situation again unless it’s necessary. You were doing so well about not getting into fights the last two weeks.”

  
“Alright, I’ll try. But I can’t promise nothing,” and with that, Angel turned on his heel and walked out of the room before Vaggie decided to blow another gasket again.

  
Angel headed to the front lobby, feeling the need for a nice hard drink after dealing with the turf war and the group sessions. 

  
The familiar clack of shoes came from behind Angel, making him stop as he waited for them to catch up with him.

  
“Enjoy the show?” Angel asked once Alastor was beside him.

  
“With you at the center, always,” Alastor chuckled as they both walked back to the lobby together.

  
“I’m always happy to your entertainment, more ways than one,” Angel winked.

  
He had to bite back a laugh when he saw Alastor stagger a bit in his step, turning a lovely shade of red that almost matched his hair. 

  
It was so easy to get him so worked up that it should be a crime. True that Alastor made it clear that he has no interest in such vile acts, as he calls it. But he’s never made any real move to tell Angel to stop his advances. The closes thing to a stop for him is he simply told Angel no whenever he offered any sexual acts to the other demon, never a stop. Making Angel believe that he was starting to wear Alastor down and that it will only be just a matter of time when he says yes to Angel. Something Angel couldn’t wait for when the day finally arrives.

  
_‘Just be patient, it will all be worth it soon,’_ he told himself.

  
Husk was whipping the counter top of the bar when Angel and Alastor came into the lobby. 

  
“Hi Huskie babe, can I have my usual,” Angel asked in his seduction voice, winking at him.

  
Huck rolled his eyes but prepared Angel’s drink.

  
“I’ll have a whisky, Husker my boy,” ordered Alastor.

  
“Yeah, yeah just keep your fucking panties on,” Husk grumbled, slide Angel his drink.

  
“Oh, Alastor I didn’t know you liked lingerie, you’re so naughty,” Angel turned his flirty energy to Alastor once more.

  
Again, Alastor turned red, making Angel smile. 

  
“I believe that is not what Husker meant, Angel,” Alastor accepted the drink that Husk gave him and tossed the whole thing back.  
“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” Angel decided to back off for now. Not wanting to make Alastor to uncomfortable that he would chase him off. He needed to be careful here, it would do him no good if he turned Alastor off completely to Angel. That was not his goal.

  
“Mail came by the way,” Husk announced as he reached down from under the counter to pull a pile of mail out and set it in front of Alastor, “There’s something for you and Niffty.”

  
“Oh?” Alastor sorted through the pile.

  
The pile was mostly of bills and annoying adds that no one was interested in. There was two letters that were personally written for Charlie, and as Husk said there was a letter for him and Niffty.

  
At that point, Niffty quickly scurried down the stairs with her feather duster in hand and started to zip out of the lobby before Alastor stopped her.  
“Niffty, dear! There is a letter here for you,” he called.

  
Niffty stopped in her tracks and zipped over to Alastor’s side.

  
“Something for me?” she hopped in place.

  
Alastor handed her a grey envelope with her name neatly written on it, almost an exact copy of Alastor’s. Niffty eagerly grabbed the envelope from Alastor’s hand and tore it open to pull out a single page. Her large eye zipped from side to side, reading it before she let out a large squeal.

  
“It’s from Mimzy!”

  
“Hmm, why it is,” Alastor comment, reading his own letter.

  
“What’s wrong, I heard Niffty scream?” Charlie came rushing out into the lobby with Vaggie towing behind her.

  
Niffty rushed over to Charlie to show her the letter, “My friend Mimzy is inviting all of us to her show tomorrow night at the club she owns!”

  
“Really?” Charlie took the offered letter and read it herself.

  
“Yes, she’s inviting the whole hotel staff to come, with food and drinks on the house,” Alastor added.

  
“Can we go, please Charlie?” Niffty hopped up and down.  
  
Even though Niffty and Alastor were invited and allowed to bring their friends, they had to get Charlie’s approval first since she was their boss technically. 

  
“Where is the club?” Vaggie asked, a little curious as to where this place was.

  
Charlie’s eyes widen, “It’s at the Fire Fox Club.”

  
Husk, who was drinking from his cheap booze, spat it out, while Angel chocked on his own drink.

  
“Are you fucking shitting me!?” Husk shouted in a bit of shell shock.

  
“You know the place?” Vaggie asked, confuse at their reaction.

  
“You seriously never heard of that place before,” Angel asked, staring in disbelief.

  
Vaggie shrugged.

“The Fire Fox is probably one of the most richest clubs in all of Hell where they have the best booze, food, and games for either Royals, Overlords, or anyone that has the cash to get in,” Husk explained to Vaggie.

  
“Basically, not anyone can get in. It takes forever to get on their list,” Angel added, not bothering to mention that he’s even tried to get in a few times with his high-end clients. 

  
“I didn’t know you had a friend on the inside, Niffty,” Charlie looked down to the little demon.

  
“Mimzy and I go way back. Alastor knows her as well, longer then me!” said Niffty.

  
“I think we should go, Charlie dear. You have been putting in a lot of work of late and deserve some time to loosen up a bit,” said Alastor.

  
“Well, it does sound like it would be fun… oh, why not! We’ll go tomorrow,” declared Charlie.

  
Niffty cheered as she stared talking about what she should wear and what needed to be done before they left, before zooming off.

  
Angel was existed too, and glad that Charlie was on bored with this. He’s been trying to get in that club for so long and now finally he will have the chance. Maybe if he played his cards right he could convince Alastor to go with him as his date.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel learns what jealous feels like, and leads him to make a drunken decision to win the affection of the one he loves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say, I just hate people right now. I'm sorry to say. Actually I'm not sorry at all. I hate my job right now, which I actually do love, but with all the stress going on right now it's not fun.

Finding the perfect outfit when you wanted eyes on you wasn’t that hard for Angel, he had every outfit for any occasion that screamed look at me. When you’re a famous porn star that everyone knows, you have to make a good impression when you went out if you wanted all eyes turned to you.  
But finding an outfit for The Fire Fox Club wasn’t that easy.

  
That club was one of the riches, or THE richest place of all of Hell. The place had standards and if you didn’t follow those standards they wouldn’t even bother looking at you, no matter how large the chuck of cash you flashed at them. Angel Dust sadly learned that the hard way when he first tried to get in and hasn’t had the chance to try again since they won’t allow him back again. But this time he had a hand invitation, well at least Alastor and Niffty did, and that they were allowed to bring friends with them for the show tonight, including Angel. This time Angel was determined not to mess this chance up as he carefully pulled each outfit out of his closet and inspected them before tossing them to the side and moved on to the next one. If it was any other place, half of his clothes he owned would be fine. But sadly for this club most of his clothes were not suitable. 

  
He didn’t bother looking at anything with a skirt, deciding to play it safe and go with something with pants. Unfortunately, most of his nicer clothes all had skirts and very item he own with pants weren’t as nice. That was until he came to the very last outfit hanging in his closet that made him smiling in glee.

  
The outfit the Alastor first gifted to him when he appeared at the hotel and offered his help to Charlie.

  
It was a lovely pants suit with a nice soft shade of pink with a red tie, which Angel thought with amusement, was Alastor’s trade mark color. Angel would like to think it was Alastor’s way of marking him as his but knew it wasn’t the case and that the tie color would look flashy against the black trim and soft pink suit. Alastor defiantly knew his style. And to add the cream of the crop Angel found the matching hat that went with it.

  
It took him about forty-minutes to fix his hair and make-up, deciding to go a little on the light side to just high-light his natural beauty. No need to go heavy, he wasn’t doing drag, or going out to a seeder club that he normally visits.

  
Checking himself over in the mirror one last time, deeming himself perfect, Angel cooed goodbye to Fat Nugget and headed downstairs to meet up with everyone.

  
Downstairs Alastor and Husk were the only ones present, sitting at the bar but not drinking for once. Most likely waiting until they get to the club where the good booze waited for them. Alastor was dressed in his normal get up as always, smartly dress no matter the day or the occasion. And Husk… well he was a cat so he didn’t really wear clothes other than his hat and matching bowtie.

  
Alastor was the first to notice Angel’s entrance, noting the suit he was wearing right away.

  
“Ah, Angel dear! You look quite dashing in that suit,” Alastor commented.

  
Husk barely spared him a glance.

  
“Thanks sweetheart. But I can’t take all the credit. You really know how to dress a guy to make him look special,” Angel winked.

  
Alastor turned a nice light shade of red, making Angel smile.

  
“Yes, well,” Alastor cough, trying to cover the red painted on his face, “Someone needs to dress you from time to time, instead of those crude things you usually wear.”

  
Angel frowned. His clothes were not crude.

  
He was about to respond back when the girls appeared in the lobby.

  
“Wow! You guys look amazing!” Charlie squealed.

  
“Angel is the only one dressed up. Alastor is always dressed like that and Husk doesn’t even wear clothes,” Vaggie pointed out but Charlie ignored her.  
“You dames don’t look half bad yourselves,” said Angel, ignoring the glare from Vaggie at the dame comment.

  
“Let’s go!” Niffty shouted as she rushed out the door.

* * *

They took Charlie’s limo to get to the club, which was located in the east of Pentagram City. Angel was really starting to enjoy the luxury of traveling in style to a high end club. True that he’s been in Valentino’s limo more times that he can count but he never really enjoyed those rides with his boss. The difference from this and Val’s was that here he was among his friends. He was safe here and didn’t have to worry about anything but to just enjoy the ride. Charlie was talking nonstop during the whole ride, excited as she moved from one topic to another that Angel was at a complete lost to what she was talking about now. The only one who seemed to know what Charlie was talking about was Niffty, who was basically as jitter as she was.

Between those two, they basically did all the talking for everyone until they finally reached their destination.

  
They pulled up front to a large old looking place but extremely well kept, showing that a lot of money went into this place to keep it looking so nice.

The place almost reminded him of some of the nicer building’s he’s seen in Brooklyn when he was alive.

  
A valet came and opened the door to the limo, stepping aside as the girls got out first, followed by the boys.

  
The building was much bigger now that Angel was standing in front of it, taking in the details of the place and craftsmanship that was put into. A red carpet led up to a small flight of stairs to the entrance of the place, where standing on the left of the stairs was already a line of people to get in.

Above the door was a large and very classy looking sign that read ‘The Fire Fox Club’ in gold writing.

  
Alastor led the group up the flight of stairs where a bouncer stood in front of the doors.

  
“Do you have reservations?” asked the large bull demon.

  
“Yes, my dear chap, Alastor and Niffty.”

  
The bull looked to his clipboard in hand, looking through the list of names and flipped a page before he found what he was looking for.

  
The bull demon checked them off the list before he stepped aside and open the door to allow them in, “Enjoy your evening folks,”

  
Alastor nodded his thanks to the bouncer and entered inside with the others following close behind.

  
Jazz music was the first thing that greeted them when they entered, followed by the sound of glasses clacking together and laughter in the air, as they came into the main lobby of the club. The lobby of the club was large and grand with a circle oak table in the middle with a large bouget of flowers on top, flowers that were defiantly hard to find here in Hell. The room was a circular shape with cushion seats built into the wall. On the other side of them was the front desk, where the hostess, a fairly tell red imp that was dressed very professionally, sat behind the desk that had the club noise behind her.

  
Alastor walked right up to the imp, catching her attention as he reached her.

  
“Good evening sir, and welcome back,” she greeted him.

  
The others, except for Niffty, looked at Alastor, a little surprised at the causal greeting.

  
“Hello Tilly. The normal table if you would please,” said Alastor.

  
“You have guest with you tonight as well,” she glance at the group behind him.

  
“Yes,” he nodded.

  
She grabbed a stack of menus and came out front behind the desk, “Please follow me,” she led them to the left.

  
Alastor was the first to follow, next was Niffty and the rest.

  
They moved away from the open area and walked down a small little hall where a flight of stairs waited at the end. The imp, Tilly went up the flight of stairs, checking behind her to be sure her group was still there, and reached the top to a large open floor plan. The floor held ten tables up here, all from different sizes, with the tables all set with fine china. To everyone, but Alasotr’s, was surprise to see that the floor was actually more like a balcony that looked over the whole club where you could see everything. The stage was closest to them where you had a wonderful view of the band from any spot on the balcony, as well as the whole dance floor where you could see people dancing away. All the way across from them was a large bar with a large display case of all their liquor, with shelves that went so high that it almost reached the ceiling. Nearest to the bar, on the right were more tables for either dinning or drinking, or even both. There was also another set of tables closet to them, across the dance floor were people were gambling, playing blackjack, poker, or craps. 

  
The whole place was decked out in the 1920s; a high class style from what Angel remembered when he was a kid in the 1920s. Most of the decor here was very classy, as well as expensive from the nice table clothes to the art decorated everywhere. Angel could definitely see how this place was one of the nicest places of all of Hell.

  
Tilly brought the group to a booth that was hidden in the shadows from down believe, where no one could see you from there unless you were up here on the balcony. It also held a perfect view of the stage where the railing was only a little in the way but manageable.

  
The girls were allowed to seat first in the booth before the gentlemen slid in next. Tilly handed them all their menus, which held both food and drinks, and informed them their server will be here soon and left.

  
Looking at the drink menu Angel immediately recognize half of these old time drinks he has seen before since his days when he was alive. They were also more of the modern drinks listed here too, but it was still good to see the old stuff as well.

  
“Wow, this place is amazing!” Charlie said in awe.

  
“I know!” Niffty squealed.

  
“You seem to know the hostess well enough to call her by her first name,” Vaggie eyed Alastor.

  
“But of course. I’ve come here quite a bit when I wish to reminisce the old days. It’s hard to find any place in Hell with class like this,” said Alastor, “Right now we are in the reserve area for Royals and Overlords only. Anyone that is not is seated down below.”

  
“That’s a big craps table,” Husk muttered to no one, staring at the gambling area.

  
“If you want to Husk, we can order for you so you can go-“ Charlie began to offer before Husk was suddenly out of his seat and flew over the railing, yelling something about ‘the good stuff’ and was gone.

  
“Okay, I guess that was a yes,” said Charlie.

  
“I know what he likes, I’ll send his drink down to him in a bit,” said Alastor.

  
“Should we be worry for the old flea bag?” ask Angel.

  
“He’ll be fine,” said Alastor, “He knows when to behave when it’s needed.”

  
“I want to get a drink!” Niffty declared, her large eye zipping all over the menu.

  
“Aren’t most of these drinks based off on bathtub water?” asked Vaggie.

  
“Eww,” Charlie cringed at the thought of drinking bathwater.

  
“Hey, you’d be surprise how good that stuff can be,” Angel defended.

  
“Not to worry dears. The drinks here are based off the classics but are made from real alcohol then the home bathtub drinks,” Alastor explained.  
“Well that’s good. I wasn’t looking forward to drinking bathwater,” said Charlie.

  
“I want a Bee’s Knees!” Niffty declared.

  
“The Royal Hawaiian looks good, you should get that too, Vaggie,” Charlie pointed to the menu.

  
Vaggie looked to the menu that Charlie was pointing to, “Sure, why not.”

  
“What about you Al? Getting your usually hard whiskey, deer daddy,” Angel whispered the last part for only Alastor to hear.

  
Alastor stiffened a bit at the name but didn’t say anything about.

  
Angel mentally squealed in glee at this new development. Before when Angel called him daddy his smile would turned into something of a sneer and glare at Angel as he politely asked him not call him that. Of course Angel ignored him and still kept calling Alastor daddy when he saw it was only appropriate when it’s just them. Angel knew when to back off when needed with Alastor, which is why he tried not to call him daddy too often, just only when Angel was feeling very bold and flirty. 

  
So the fact that he didn’t tell Angel to stop calling him that, the first time ever, was a huge victory in Angel’s book. 

  
“The Grasshopper is a favorite of mine,” Alastor answered Angel’s question, completely ignoring the daddy name.

  
“Oh,” Angel decided to drop the daddy thing for now, and looked to the list of drinks, “I don’t think I’ve ever had that one before.”

  
“You should try, dear Angel. They make quite a good Grasshopper here that it’s almost as good as the ones back home,” said Alastor.

  
“Hmm, maybe but I’m always fawn of the Bees Knee’s myself,” said Angel.

  
“Ah, yes, you always do prefer the overly sweet drinks that riot your teeth,” Alastor commented.

  
“Look who’s talking. Isn’t the Grasshopper sweet?”

  
“It’s creamy, not so much as sweet. There is a difference my dear.”

  
Angel didn’t look convince, leaning closer to Alastor, “Maybe but it’s also a desert cocktail from what the menu tells me. I would classify that as something sweet.”

  
Alastor’s eyes narrowed a bit but his smile remain. 

  
Angel smirked.

  
“But I might like something a little harder, and perhaps bitter. Like the El Presidente,” Angel focused back to the menu, ignoring Alastor in the meantime who perked up in interest at that. 

  
Angel knew how to gain Alastor’s attention when he wanted, as it was surprisingly easy to do so. All those late night drinks and talks, Angel’s learned what Alastor preferred in his drinking habits. And those were hard and bitter liquor type drinks 

  
“I didn’t peg you as a rum type drinker,” said Alastor.

  
Angel lowered his menu to look at Alastor fully, “When it suits me. I like to go for the hard core stuff.”

  
“Ah, then the Scofflaw is also a good one if you want something harder.”

  
“I’ve had those before, they aren’t too bad. But I still prefer the hard rum drinks. Helps loosen the nerves,” he winked.

  
“Yes, rum defiantly has that effect,” said Alastor.

  
Angel smiled, ready to continue on with their little talk when Niffty suddenly squealed, startling the two as they looked to see where she was staring at to make her squeal.

  
At the top of the stairs came a short plump female demon that looked surprisingly human down here in Hell, with short blonde hair and a cute pink flapper dress. Overall she was kind of a cute little thing, not cute as in hey she’s a really cutie I want some of that, more of cute like Niffty kind of cute.  
The demon in question smiled as she came right towards their table. Niffty was already out of her chair and zipping over to the other demon to meet her halfway. The two embraced as they both quickly talked as they walked back over to the table.

  
Alastor suddenly stood up from his seat at the table, startling Angel as he looked up to the other demon as he circled around to go meet the girls as they came to the front of the table.

  
“Ah, Mimzy my dear. You look radiant as always,” Alastor greeted, taking her hand and kissing it.

  
The plump demon, known as Mimzy, Angel noted, blushed furiously when Alastor kissed her hand and the lovely commented he gave her.

  
Something strange twisted in Angel’s chest.

  
“Oh Alastor, such the charmer,” Mimzy blushed.

  
“Mimzy! I want you to meet my friends, Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel,” Niffty pointed to each of them.

  
“It’s nice to meet you, Mimzy,” Charlie was first to greet, “Niffty told us so much about you!”

  
“Kind of to the point it might be little too much,” Vaggie said with a smile.

  
Mimzy blushed, “Well I hope it’s all good things.”

  
“Oh course!” said Niffty.

  
“Come sit with us, Mimzy dear,” Alastor offered her his seat next to Angel, helping her to it.

  
“I hope you are all enjoying yourselves tonight,” Mimzy asked,

  
“Yes, we are! This place is beautiful!” Charlie’s voice held an awe tone at the end.

  
“I’m happy to hear. I do pride myself in making this the best experience. Especially when high rollers grace our club,” said Mimzy.

  
A waiter came to their table at that moment to take their orders.

  
“I would like the Bees Knees!” declared Niffty.

  
“Two Royal Hawaiians for us,” Charlie ordered for her and Vaggie.

  
“And you sir?” the waiter looked to Alastor.

  
“A Grasshopper for me,” he ordered then looked to Mimzy, “Would you like for me to order for you Mimzy?”

  
Mimzy giggled, “I can order for myself, Alastor. But I do appreciate the gesture. Grasshopper for me as well,”

  
“Yes madam,” the waiter looked to Angel last, “And you sir?”

  
Angel missed the waiter talking to him, so focused on the display before him, between Alastor and Mimzy. Seeing Alastor offering not only his seat to her but also ordering for her, something that he has never done before, at least not for Angel, the whole thing made him uncomfortable. 

  
“Sir,” the waiter repeated again, catching Angel’s attention.

  
“Huh?” Angel looked back to him.

  
The waiter looked slightly irritated, “Your order, sir?”

  
“Oh,” Angel picked up the menu again, fiddling with it in his hands, “I guess I’ll have the… Grasshopper?”

  
The waiter nodded, writing down his order.

  
“Oh! We almost forgot to order for Husk,” Charlie suddenly remembered, “What does he want?”

  
“What doesn’t he want? Most of this stuff here he’ll be happy with considering the cheap stuff he always drinks,” said Vaggie.

  
“She’s not wrong there,” said Alastor as he looked to the waiter, “Our feline friend down at the craps tables would like a glass of your finest whiskey that you have,” he ordered.

  
“Yes, sir,” the waiter wrote down the order and left.

  
“Feel free to order as much as you want tonight, everyone. It’s on the house,” Mimzy declared.

  
“That’s really nice of you, Mimzy,” said Charlie.

  
“Oh it’s nothing. It’s nice to finally meet all of you, Niffty has told me so much about the hotel through our letters,” said Mimzy.

  
“We’re still getting off the ground but we have four guests so far and all of them are showing great progress!” said Charlie.

  
No one at the table bothered to correct her.

  
“So Angel, you are a guest as well?” Mimzy turned her focus on Angel, who suddenly felt like he was in the spot light, and not in the good way.

  
“Um, yeah I’m the first one that these two dragged me into it,” he answered.

  
“You’re a… porn star, correct?”

  
Why did she say it like that? The way she said it made him feel so… dirty. 

  
“He’s actually an ex-porn star,” Vaggie added in before she glared at him sideways, “Or so he claims.”

  
“Hey, I already told you. Val has not had me working in the studio for a while, in like two months. At that point I’m pretty much an ex-porn star,” Angel defended himself. He didn’t like where this conversation was going and wanted to get off of it as soon as possible. 

  
Mimzy scrunched up her nose at the mention of Valentino, “That awful cockroach makes a bad habit of bring some of his ‘employees’ here. Evelyn always turns him away if he tries to bring them in. She won’t have any of that here.”

  
The waiter returned with their drinks, setting them down in the order that he took from them.

  
“Speaking of, where is dear Evelyn this evening?” Alastor asked.

  
“She’s taking care of something in the kitchen but will be out shortly to visit,” answered Mimzy.

  
“What shows do you do here?” Vaggie asked curiously.

“Singing of course, but sometimes we’ll have a few comedians every now and then,” said Mimzy.

  
“Mimzy is the star here,” said Niffty, already finished with her drink while everyone else was still nursing theirs.

  
“Yes, Mimzy has a wonderful singing voice,” Alastor even praised.

  
Mimzy giggled, “Oh you.”

  
Angel frowned as he watched the exchange between them, not use to seeing Alastor giving out complaints so easily. Actually he’s never really seen him compliment anyone really. Not even to Angel when they talked about cooking and when it was his turn to make dinner. He knew Alastor liked his food, his lack of words and expression was enough to tell Angel. But it still would be nice to hear it from Alastor, to have it in words.

  
“Do any of you preform?” Mimzy suddenly asked.

  
At that question, Angel suddenly tensed up.

  
“My mother basically lives on stage so I’m used to seeing her preform all the time, and my dad is very talented singer. I’ve also love to sing and dance when I can,” said Charlie.

  
“I don’t really preform. I’ve played the guitar a few times but that was about it,” answered Vaggie.

  
Angel hesitated for a moment, “Well I-“

  
“Oh! I need to get back stage! It’s almost time for the show,” Mimzy suddenly declared before Angel could finish, making him upset at being brushed off so easily like that.

  
Alastor rose up from his seat, helping Mimzy out. 

  
“I’ll see you all again after the show,” Mimzy told them before leaving and heading down the stairs.

  
“She seems really nice,” stated Charlie.

  
“Yeah, nice...,” Angel mumbled.

  
“How did you two meet Mimzy?” Charlie inquired.

  
“Mimzy was already down here in Hell when I arrived. In my earlier years here I found this club during my evening strolls,” when he meant evening strolls, they all knew he really meant his hunts, “and decided to enter this find establishment. Mimzy was preforming that night, noticing my entrancing during her show, and the rest is history,” Alastor finished, taking a sip of his Grasshopper.

  
“I know Mimzy because I work for Alastor,” Niffty stated just as a waiter came and gave her another Bees Knees, which she down instantly. 

  
“Well I’m always up for a good show. I can’t wait to see it!” Charlie squealed.

  
“How do you like the Grasshopper, Angel?” Alastor suddenly asked.

  
“It’s okay,” Angel answered, taking a small sip, “It’s kind of a nice refresher.”

  
“It’s one of the house specials, as well as Mimzy’s favorite,” Alastor commented, finishing his drink.

  
Instantly Angel lost the taste for his drink as his face scrunched up as he pushed it away from him in distaste. 

  
“Are you not going to finish that?” Niffty asked Angel, “Can I have it?”

  
Angel pushed it towards Niffty, “Go nuts toots,”

  
Niffty grabbed the drink and finished it within seconds.

  
“Maybe you should take it easy Niffty. That’s a lot you’ve had already,” said Charlie.

  
“I’m good!” she declared.

  
“Let’s get some food, shall we?” Alastor picked up the menu.

  
The evening carried on peacefully. They ordered some food, a couple of appetizers and main dishes for everyone, which arrived surprisingly quickly, but if you are an Overlord then I suppose have your food ready right away. Husk came back up for a few minutes, to mostly fill his stomach up and grab another drink before heading back down to the tables to gamble some more.

  
Once Mimzy was gone, and all conversations of her were over, Angel felt a little better now as the normal atmosphere of his friends returned. He ordered another drink for himself but this time the EL Presidente. He needed a hard drink.

  
The food was amazing here, much like the drinks, for everything that everyone had was delicious. There was nothing that they didn’t like and went as far as to get a second serving of appetizers that everyone was enjoying with their drinks. There was also a desert menu but they decided to hold off on that for a bit since they still had the whole night and the table reserve only for them.

  
Angel was finishing his second EL Presidente, enjoying the buzz from it when spot a new demon come up the stairs and stopping at the top.  
The demon was a tall golden fox female demon that looked as if they fit right in with the club. Her face was very human, that you would think she was if it weren’t for the black button nose and the fox ears standing tall on top of her head. She had black short hair that was styled in a waved finger hairstyle that framed her face gorgeously. Her dress was a beautiful long black dress with a long V-neck with a silver pendent at the end of the V-neck. The end of her sleeves was large brown furry cuffs that reached all the way to her elbows, and underneath the fur she wore long black gloves with diamond bracelets. 

  
The fox demon basically screamed class and wealth as she started to make her way towards them. Her hips swayed a bit, enough to see her long bushy foxtail move back and forth a bit in her walk.

  
“Alastor,” she called out when she made it to their table.

  
Alastor looked up and noticed the new arrival as his grin widened, standing to meet her, “Evelyn! Good to see you.”

  
“Likewise,” she offered her hand to him, who Alastor took and his kissed it, “I’m sorry I couldn’t come to see all of you earlier. But there was an issue I had to see to first before I can start with any pleasantries tonight.”

  
“It’s alright my dear,” Alastor turned to everyone at the table, “Everyone, meet the co-owner of this lovely establishment, Evelyn. Evelyn meet Niffty, Charlie, Vaggie and Angel,” Alastor introduced.

  
“Co-own? I thought Mimzy owned the place?” Charlie asked.

  
“Mimzy and I are partners here,” said Evelyn, “She handles the entertainment while I take care of everything behind the scenes.

  
“Well, it’s a very nice place you have here,” said Vaggie.

  
“We love it!” Niffty cheered out of her seat.

  
“Well I’m happy you are all having a good time. I can’t stay to chat very long but I can spare a few minutes to sit,” said Evelyn.

  
“Would you like my seat,” Alastor offered.

  
“No, no it’s fine. I’ll pull a chair up from another table,” she declined, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to a table. She called over a waiter, ordering a drink and then asked if anyone needed anything. Only Alastor and Angel ordered refills.

  
“So Charlie,” Evelyn looked to her, “Tell me about your hotel. I’ve been quite curious about it since I saw your interview on the news.”

  
Charlie turned red in embarrassment at the memory, “Yeah that wasn’t quite my finest moment.”

  
“I actually found the whole thing hilarious,” Evelyn laughed.

  
Vaggie glared at her for laughing at Charlie.

  
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” she notices Vaggie’s glare, smiling at both of the girls, “I found it funny to see that awful news woman getting her feathers so ruffled up because she couldn’t take it when someone else is serving it.”

  
“Yes, I do say that was the best part of it,” Alastor chuckled at the memory himself.

  
“To get so huffy over such silly little name calling, only the weak minded can’t handle that,” said Evelyn.

  
Their drinks arrived, Angel receiving another EL Presidente, while Alastor got a Grasshopper, and Evelyn got a simple Mimosa.

  
“I guess it kind of was silly that she got so huffy over that,” Charlie looked away, still bashful.

  
“I also saw the footage of that turf war as well,” Evelyn shifted her gaze to Angel, making him suddenly nervous, like a predator was stacking its prey, “You are Angel Dust, correct?”

  
Angel pulled himself together, leaning forward on one elbow and smiled at Evelyn with as much confidence that he likes to show in front of everyone, “That’s my name.”

  
“I must say I was quite impressed to see you handle not one but two tummy guns when I saw you on the news. Tummies have always been my favorite of choice. It’s nice to see others here in Hell know how to handle one properly.”

  
“We try not to encourage turf wars with Angel anymore. For his redemption,” Charlie answered before Angel could, which pissed him off a little. 

  
“I see,” said Evelyn, “My apologizes then.”

  
The lights in the club suddenly dimmed as people down below started to cheer.

  
“The show is starting!” Niffty announced as she zipped over to the railing for a better view.

  
The band started to play, a nice jazzy tune that got you going until it started to slow down. Mimzy suddenly appeared on stage, dancing a little bit as she strolled up to the mic. 

  
“I'm worried all the time. My friend he told me today. That he was going away and stay –“ Mimzy had a lovely singing voice, Angel thought, begrudgingly, at, “Now I love him deep down in my heart. But the best of friends must part, now I want somebody please. To cure me of my love disease!”

  
The band kicked up again for a second but quiet down.

  
“That thing called love will make you sit and sigh! That thing called love that money cannot buy. Will make you sad. Will make you glad!” Mimzy pulled the mic off the stand and started to dance around on stage, “Will even drive your mama mad. That thing called love has such a funny feelin'. That thing called love will set your brain a-reelin'. When you're alone, feeling blue!”

  
Angel watched the crowd down below staring at the show, watching Mimzy’s every move as she pranced around stage. Come on! Sure the girl was a good singer and all but she wasn’t that good. The band it’s self was probably making her look so good. Now they were great.

  
“You're thinking 'bout someone that doesn’t care for you! Then nobody knows what the thing called love will do!” Mimzy hit a bit of a high note but it did not last.

  
Angel looked around the table. Charlie was totally invested into the performance, which didn’t surprise Ange since the kid was such a theater freak to begin with. Vaggie seemed to be enjoying it so far, not as into it as Charlie, since this music wasn’t really up her ally. Niffty’s back was to Angel so it was hard to see what her reaction was but he can only assumed she was enjoying it as much as the people were down below. Evelyn’s reaction was neural, showing nothing other than a smile as she watched. She was probably so use to these shows that there is nothing to be in awe about anymore. 

But the one that he really wanted to see was the one that he rather not knew.

  
Alastor was smiling. Not his normal bullshit grin he wears for all to see, but an actual genuine smile! He looked so happy, the way he was watching the show. That strange twisted feeling in Angel’s chest that he’s been feeling most of the night took a terrible turn that Angel thought he couldn’t breathe for a second.

  
“That thing called love will make you sit and sigh, that thing called love that money cannot buy, will make you sad, will make you glad! Will even drive your mama mad!” Mimzy returned to the mic stand, “That thing called love has such a funny feelin'. That thing called love will set your brain a-reelin'. When you're alone, feeling blue. You're thinking 'bout someone that don't care for you. Then nobody knows what the thing called love will do!” She ended with a large note as the band kicked off high again for the final verse and then ended.

  
The claps and cheers echoed throughout the club.

  
Everyone at the table, minus Angel, clapped at the performance. Alastor even stood to give Mimzy a standing ovation that made Angel’s chest hurt even more.

  
Mimzy bowed to her audience, blowing kisses in different directions and waved goodbye as she walked backstage. The band started to go back to some of the tunes they were playing earlier as everyone went back to their business. 

  
“What did you guys think?” Niffty rushed back to the table, “Isn’t Mimzy great!” squealing in excitement.

  
“It was amazing!” Charlie squealed back.

  
“It was pretty good. A little old for me but still good,” said Vaggie.

  
“Mimzy is the main star of the Fire Fox here. Everyone comes and watches her preform,” said Evelyn before she stood up, after finishing her drink, “Now I must return back to work. Please enjoy the rest of the night, and let me know if you need anything.”

  
“Pleasure as always, Evelyn,” said Alastor.

  
She gave simple wave and walked off to the stairs, disappearing down as she goes.

  
“We should go down and meet Mimzy!” Niffty declared, “She’ll be leaving stage by then.”

  
“Oh! Let’s go dancing Vaggie!” declared Charlie.

  
“Sure,” she answered.

  
“Perhaps some dancing would be good,” said Alastor, standing up.

  
“Yay!” Niffty was already off and gone.

  
“You coming, Angel?” asked Charlie.

  
“Sure, just hold on a sec,” Angel downed his whole drink in one go, startling everyone around him as he drank the hard liquor in one go, “Alright! Let’s go,” he slammed his glass down and rose from his set. He was going to need as much hard liquor to get through this night.

  
Though, he might have underestimated how many drinks of rum he’s had for he was swaying a little bit as he started walking. Thankful he was at the back of the group so no one notice his unsteady steps until he managed to pull himself together where he could actually walk straight. He didn’t need anyone to know he might have had a little too many, especially Charlie and Vaggie. Angel always prided himself for holding his liquor but rum was always the one drink he always struggled with. The blasted stuff was always too strong for him.

  
They somehow made it down to the main floor, how Angle didn’t quite know for he was focusing one minute of not falling then the next he was here. Charlie and Vaggie were already out on the dance floor, dancing away to the jazz music among the crowd of demons. From where he stood he could see Husk had now moved on to the poker tables with an impressive pile of chips in front him. If he knew they were down here he didn’t show it. Watching Husk play his hand, Angel almost missed Niffty on the dance floor herself, already having herself a dance partner and looked to be having a good old time. 

  
That only left one.

  
Angel immediately spotted Alastor, standing off to the side of the dance floor, watching everyone. Fighting off the strong buzz Angel mentally prepared himself, as well as fix his hair and chest fluff, as he strolled over to Alastor. Finally, a moment he could be alone with the other demon and there was no way he was going to let the buzz ruin this moment.

  
Just only inches away from Alastor now, Alastor suddenly perked up looked to the side, away from Angel, in time to see Mimzy come out, and Alastor who was reaching out to meet her halfway. Angel stood there, silently watching the scene before him as the twisting in his chest came back, only this time much worse.

  
“My dear,” Angel could hear Alastor’s voice over the music filled room with such affection that he didn’t even know Alastor could possess, “You were divine as always.”

  
Mimzy giggled at his phrase, “Oh, Alastor.”

  
Angel couldn’t breathe. I mean he really couldn’t breathe this time as the world around him started to spin, and it wasn’t the rum causing it either.  
Backing away, Angel then turned on his heel and ran as far away. 

  
He couldn’t do this.

  
He couldn’t wittiness this.

  
Why was it so hard to fucking breathe!?

  
In his haste, he remembered shoving aside demons as he ran away from the scene to get as far as he could. He could barely hear the shouts of complains over the music, and his rushing mind, but none of that mattered. He didn’t care if he was being rude or who he was pushing aside, he just kept running until he reached the bar, leaning against the counter as he tried to breathe. The bartender came over and asked if he was alright but Angel just waved him away. 

  
Why was this happening? What was wrong with him? Was he having a fucking panic attack? Last time he had one of those was when he was still alive and his pops was beating the shit out of him for catching him with another man. Yeah, it defiantly was a panic attack.

  
A few moments later Angel was finally able to calm himself and think a little clearly now that he finally called the bartender over to order another drink. He was already hammered enough as it is but he didn’t care. He just needed to get through this night and not think of what was happening behind him.

  
How could Angel be so stupid to think that Alastor would be interested in Angel when he has someone like Mimzy. He really thought that he and Alastor were really growing closer, that the other demon was starting to like him to the point he was willing to sit down and have late night talks together alone, to talk of their favorite things, such as music and food.

  
Angel was an excellent cook, no questions about that. But a singer, well, he can’t really say about that one. He only sang a few times to himself when he was completely alone and free to do as he wanted without eyes judging him. But there was that one night, at the studio, that everyone had finish work for today and throws a party. There was a lot drinking involved that night but Angel still remembered that someone brought a karaoke machine. One of the girls dared him to sing something, and after a few drinks in him, as well as drugs pumped into his system, he took the mic and sang his heart out. He didn’t remember the song he sang but after he was done everyone was cheering and clapping for him, saying that was amazing. 

  
Even Valentino saw it and praise Angel for his lovely show.

  
After that night Angel asked Valentino if it was possible for him to do some shows where he could sing, knowing that Valentino enjoyed his performance as much as everyone else. But instead he told Angel that he may belong on stage but not on that kind of stage, and told Angel he should only focus what he was good at and not on a silly little hobby, such as singing, where he wouldn’t get far with anyway.

  
Even with Valentino’s dismissal Angel knew he was good. He can sing just as good as a professional if he was only given the chance.

  
And he needed to show Alastor that he was just as good as Mimzy, if not better.

  
Angel looked to call the bartender over again when he saw that the bartender was talking to Evelyn at the end of the bar, speaking for a moment before she turned and walked away.

  
That’s when an idea hit him.

  
Quickly Angel rose from his seat and chased after Evelyn as she made her way to the back of the club where the stage was.

  
“Hey Eveyln! Wait up!” he called to her.

  
Eveyln stopped and looking around as she heard her name being called, turning around to see Angel rushing up from behind her.

  
“Oh, hello Angel is there something you need,” she asked.

  
“Yeah actually,” he started, before looking around them, feeling a little self-conscious now of someone seeing them, “is there anywhere we can speak in private for a moment?”

  
“I’m a very busy woman, Angel. If there is something you need-“

  
“Just please, one minute alone. I’m begging you, I promise this won’t take long at all,” he begged.

  
Evelyn looked at him curiously but nodded as she gestured for him to follow her.

  
Angel followed behind Evelyn, keeping up with her pace as he fought off the sway of his steps. They went through the backstage doors and immediately took a flight of stairs up to the second story of the building. At the top they came to a long hallway with multiple doors which Angel could only assume that these must be the offices of the club. They walked down the end of the hall were a single door sat alone. 

  
Evelyn pulled a key out of her large furry sleeve and unlocked the door, stepping inside.

  
Angel hesitated about entering the room but stepped inside none the less as he took in his surroundings.

  
The room was massive! It was a beautiful decorated room that was decorated in the 1920s, much like the club itself. In the center of the room sat a large beautiful oak desk with a nice cushion chair sitting behind it. There was also a little lounge section on the right side of the room with a large beautiful couch, two matching loveseats, and a coffee table. On the left side was a little bar that was stocked with some really expensive stuff that Angel can see where he stood. Overall the place really reminded Angel of Valentino’s office but older and much classier then his.

  
“Please sit,” Evelyn told him as she moved to the bar.

  
Angel did as he was told and walked over to sit on the obviously expensive couch. Sitting down he was surprise how comfy it was. From looking at it he expected it to be on the stiff side.

  
“Now then,” Evelyn returned, sitting down beside Angel as she placed her drink on the table, “What is it you wish to talk about?”

  
“I want to perform at The Fire Fox,” Angel declared.

  
Eveyln blinked, taken back at that the request.

  
“Angel, you must know we don’t allow that kind-“

  
“I mean singing,” Angel clarified, “I want to sing at the club.”

  
Her ears perked up a bit, “You wish to sing, here? At the Fire Fox?”

  
“Yes.”

  
“May I inquire why?”

  
“I rather not say,” he didn’t need her to know the real reason, “I just want to sing here is all, and I want to ask you to make it possible.”  
Evelyn eyed him for a moment, reaching for her drink and taking a sip from it, “I told you and your friends that I’m not in charge of the entertainment here at the club, that’s Mimzy’s job.”

  
Angel smirked, leaning back on the couch, “You really expect me to believe a decoy head to have any form of power here when I’m sitting with the real head here.”

  
Now he had her interest, judging by the way her ears react.

  
“That’s a big conjecture you have there,” she took another sip of her drink, eyes never leaving Angel’s.

  
“I grew up in a mafia family. It takes a mobster to recognize another mobster, especially when they are heads. My pops used a decoy head for years,” said Angel.

  
Evelyn chuckled in amusement, “Fair enough,” she placed her drink back down and turned her full attention to Angel, “I wasn’t lying when I said I let Mimzy be in charge of the entertainment here. But that’s all she’s allowed to do. She is a decoy head, whether she knows it or not, doesn’t matter to me. But I do run everything here, for this is my territory.”

  
“So you can do it?”

  
“I can, if I wish to do so.”

  
“Then why not?” he whined.

  
“Don’t whine you are not a baby. It’s very unattractive.”

  
“Sorry.”

  
“I’m not saying no,” she notice his eyes lighting “But I’m not saying yes either.”

  
His expression fell.

  
She smiled, “I will admit that even though Mimzy is our main star here, I do get tried of her performances ever now and then.”

  
“Why? The crowd seemed to love her tonight,” asked Angel.

  
“True, they do. But I’ve heard that same damn song five times already in the last month and it’s to the point it’s just exhausting. Mimzy likes to stick with the old classics, which I don’t mind, but she likes to stick to only the old ways and never bothers to change things up. Every now and then I like to bring some fresh blood in just to help the club get out of the funk and to give me a piece of mind,” she explained.

  
“She must love that,” Angel said sacristy.

  
“She gets no say of what I want, and she knows it too.”

  
“It’s either your way or the highway then?”

  
“Precisely.”

  
“So you are going to give me a chance then?” Angel was starting to get tired of beating around the bush now.

  
“I am, just out of curiosity,” she said.

  
A large grin started to form on Angel’s face.

  
“If, you can pass the audition, I don’t just let anyone play here after all,” she clarified.

  
“You want me to try out?” he asked.

  
“Yes, for it’s not that simple. I want something new and fresh here in the club every time I bring in fresh blood. I don’t want to hear the same old songs I hear Mimzy play every night. I want something new and unexpected, but still classy and acceptable in the 1920s,” she explained, “If you can bring that to me and wow me at the same time, I will let you preform here at The Fire Fox Club for a night.”

  
Damn, that was a tall order she was giving him but Angel didn’t really have much of a choice here.

  
“Alright, I can do that. But I do have a condition though,” he said.

  
“Normally I don’t finalize deals until after the auditions if they pass. But what is that?” 

  
“No one can know about this,” said Angel, “Especially Al.”

  
“And may I ask again why?”

  
“I kind of want it to be a surprise when I do perform. I don’t want anyone to know we are even having this conversation. Not until afterwards,” He suddenly started to feel insecure again but refuse to show it in front of Evelyn.

  
“Very well,” she said, “I’m available to have you audition in three days from now at one o’clock when the club is closed and no one is around. Sound fair?”

  
“Yeah that’s perfect.”

  
“So then,” she stretched her hand out to him, “We have a deal then?”

  
Angel looked at the offered hand before him, wondering if what he was about to do was really a good idea. But the memory of Alastor with Mimzy on the dance floor flashed in his mind, reminding him why he was doing this in the first place.

  
“It’s a deal,” he reached for her hand and shook on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Mimzy sang is called That Thing Call Love by Mamie Smith.
> 
> This is not the song that this story is base on. Angel will have his own song, which is the song it is based on. The Thing Called Love is Mimzy's song.
> 
> Drinks from the 1920s:
> 
> Bee's Knees: During Prohibition, people covered up the harsh flavors of bathtub gin with fresh lemon and honey in an effort to make it more palatable. The mix of honey syrup, gin and lemon turned out to be a lasting mix—made even better with a quality gin. Top it with a float of dry Champagne for some extra razzle dazzle. 
> 
> Boulevaradeir: The Negroni was invented at the tail end of the 1910s, but this whiskey-based variation first appeared in 1927 at The New York Bar in Paris. By switching out gin for American whiskey, bartender Harry McElhone created a more rounded drink with a subtle bite on the finish. While not as popular today as the original Negroni, the Boulevardier is a great alternative, with an even fancier name. 
> 
> Grasshopper: This creamy classic dessert cocktail was invented at Tujague’s Restaurant in New Orleans in the early 1920s. Crème de menthe lends the drink its signature green hue, and combines with heavy cream and crème de cacao to create a liquid after-dinner mint. 
> 
> Royal Hawaiian: While this cocktail was popularized and given its current name in the 1950s, the Royal Hawaiian first debuted in the 1920s under the name Princess Kaiulani. It’s one of the best tiki classics that doesn’t use rum. Instead, gin acts as the base for this cocktail of orgeat, fresh pineapple juice and lemon juice. It’s a simple, light tropical tipple that’s pleasantly drier than many tiki classics. 
> 
> El Presidente: During the 1920s, many affluent Americans escaped the national dry spell by traveling south to Cuba, where they were free to drink as much rum as the island could provide. It’s believed that the El Presidente cocktail—a stirred mix of white rum, dry vermouth, orange curaçao and a dash of grenadine—was invented by an American bartender at Havana’s Jockey Club, where tourists and locals alike went mad for it. 
> 
> Mimosa: We have the 1920s to thank for today’s bottomless brunches. The simple mixture of Champagne and orange juice was invented at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1925. Well, technically, the mix of the two was already called a Buck’s Fizz, but bartender Frank Meier tweaked the ratios to equal parts, forever revolutionizing our Sunday afternoons. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter! (one of these days I will figure out how to do link!) : https://twitter.com/whitewinds2
> 
> Also, please leave kudos!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last person that Angel ever thought would help him does, and the one person that Angel didn't want to find out what he's up to does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took forever to post this for some reason, but I'm happy how the chapter turned out.

It was 4:53 in the morning and Vaggie needed to be up at 6:30 to get ready and start the day by preparing breakfast for everyone at the hotel. It always annoys her that her body always awakes earlier before her alarm goes off. But at least this time around it wasn’t too bad. It’s just when she wakes up like a half an hour early that really irritates her.

  
Vaggie made her way downstairs, in the need of a glass of water, rather than getting tap water from her bathroom she rather get the filter stuff in the kitchen. Here is Hell you had no idea what was in the tap water and she rather not take the chance of finding out. The lobby was dime when she came down, only a few lights on so that it wasn’t completely dark down here for anyone that decided to come down in the early hours of the morning, much like her. She headed to the back where the kitchen was, passing the reception desk/bar, down a hall that lead to the dining area and kitchen.

  
The kitchen was dark when she entered, making it impossible for anyone to see in the pitch blackness with the lack of any natural light to come in. Feeling across the wall beside the door Vaggie searched for the light switch blindly until she found the panel and flipped the lights on.

  
“Ahhhh!” She yelled, jumping back with hand over her chest.

  
“Keep it down will ya!” Angel hissed from the center of kitchen, coming his eyes, “It’s to fucking early for that.”

  
Catching her breath, Vaggie’s shock quickly turned into angry as she scowled and stormed in and straight to Angel.

  
“What the hell are you doing down here! Do you know what time it is!?” she growled.

  
“Yeah, that’s why I said keep it down,” he grumbled.

  
It was then that Vaggie notice the large tub of ice cream in Angel’s hands and a half empty bottle of tequila on the counter beside him. The normal pink coloring that Angel usually had was now nothing but a dull grey. Even his normal fluff he prides in himself was flat and lifeless. If his appearance alone didn’t tell her that something was wrong the look alone on his face was enough to let her know. As long as Vaggie has known Angel she has never seen him this down before. It was almost like someone just told him that Fat Nuggets got loose and got hit by a car.

  
“You okay?” She asked.

  
He glared at her, “What the fuck you think,” he took a large scoop of his ice cream and shoved it in his mouth.

  
She frowned and almost snapped at him but held back. This was not the time for that.

  
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked awkwardly a little.

  
“No.”

  
“You sure?”

  
“I’m fine.”

  
“You’re sitting in the dark, in the early hours of the morning, with a tube of ice cream and bottle of half empty tequila, which I’m going to ignore for now, and… have you been crying?” Vaggie noticed the red puffiness of his eyes.

  
“N-No,” he answered, shakily.

  
Oh yeah, something was defiantly. 

  
Vaggie grabbed a stool and pulled it closer to Angel, and sat down.

  
“What are you doing?” he asked, eyeing her.

  
“When you want to talk, I’ll be here,” she simply told him.

  
“Why.”

  
“You are a guest here, and it’s my job to make sure that all our guests are taken care of,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

  
He narrowed his eyes at her, “I ain’t talking.”

  
She shrugged, reaching over to the fruit bowl to grab a pear.

  
He glared at her, watching her every move as he continued to eat his ice cream and down his drink.

  
Utter silence filled the kitchen.

  
Angel ignored Vaggie by shoving his face while Vaggie calmly chewed on her pear.

  
It only took about two minutes for the ice to break by Angel, suddenly bursting down into tears.

  
“I fucking screwed myself big time, Vaggie!” Angel cried, flailing across the counter top, startling Vaggie.

  
“I highly doubt that you did,” she said.

  
He sniffed, “No, I really did this time Vags!”

  
“Why don’t you explain it to me so I can understand?”

  
He sniffed again, “Okay,” he pushed himself up, “So do you remember the other night when we visited the club.”

  
“Yeah,”

  
“Well,” he hesitated, “I was a little drunker then you guys thought I was. And in my state, along with some poor judgment, I did something really stupid. After you and Charlie ran off to dance, I kind of sought out Evelyn and,” he paused, “asked her if she would allow me to perform at her club. And before you ask, by preforming I mean singing.”

  
Vaggie blinked, “Okay, but I still don’t understand why you are still upset by this.”

  
“She said yes, but as long as I am able to pass her audition and wow her! I can’t fucking do that!” he cried.

  
“What do you mean wow her?” Vaggie asked.

  
“She wants to hear something different, but something that is still in that 1920s setting. Because of Mimzy,” he spat her name out like it was poison, surprising Vaggie, “plays all the classics all the time at the club to the point I guess Evelyn gets sick of it. So now I have to find an incredible song that meets all her fucking requirements!”

  
“Can you sing?”

  
He whipped his nose, “Huh?”

  
“I asked if you can sing,” she repeated, “I’m kind of curious since I never really heard you sing before. So can you?”

  
Angel hesitated, “Yeah.”

  
“Can I hear?”

  
He didn’t answer.

  
“It’s okay. You don’t have to if you don’t want,” she told him.

  
Angel stared down at his bare feet, his ugly bare feet.

  
“But there is something that I still don’t understand. Why?” she asked.

  
Angel looked up, “Why what?”

  
“Why are you doing this? You haven’t told me,” she told him.

  
For the first time night Vaggie could see a little color coming back into Angel’s face, a little red on his cheeks. Or that could be the tequila.

  
“I rather not talk about it,” he mumbled.

  
She sighed, “Angel, you are clearly distress by all of this. And I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

  
Could he tell her? Can he trust her with the truth?

  
“… If I do tell you,” he paused, “Do you promise not to say anything to anyone, especially Charlie?”

  
“I promise,” she means it.

  
Angel sighed, placing the nearly empty ice cream tub on the counter but still held on to the tequila bottle in his lower hands.

  
“It’s… Alastor,” he said.

  
“What about him?

  
“Everything.”

  
Vaggie wasn’t following.

  
Angel took a swing of his drink before continuing, “When we were at the club, Alastor was just…. He was just… so friendly towards Mimzy. Fuck he was almost all over her really. He never pays attention to anyone like that, not even to me! And I’ve been trying to get the fucking bastard’s attention since he first showed up at this damn fucking hotel!” Angel was almost practically yelling at this point but calmed himself once he realized he was getting a little too loud, “I hated how he was basically glued to her side, ignoring all of us as he basically hanging off at her every word. It was almost disgusting to see him fall so low like that, an Overlord. There was even a point that my chest would hurt so bad that I couldn’t breathe to see him act so pathetic.”

  
“Oh my god,” said Vaggie, trying not to smile at the realization.

  
Angel narrowed his eyes, “What?”

  
“You really don’t know?” she asked.

  
“Now what?”

  
“Angel, you’re jealous of Mimzy.”

  
He blinked before laughing, “Haha! That’s a good one Vags. Me, of all demons, jealous! Haha!”

  
“It sounds like you are,” she stated.

  
“Oh please. As someone as gorgeous and desirable as me would be jealous of a small fray, nobody, low level demon, flapper girl, who has a nice voice, not too bad of a dancer, has the whole crowd when seems to love her, and can get the whole room’s attention when she wants it,” he paused, realization sinking in. “including Al’s… Damn it!” he cursed loudly, spitting out a few Italian curses as well.

  
“Look Angel,” Vaggie started, “it’s okay to be a jealous sometimes. I get jealous from time to time, especially when it comes to people that Charlie use to be very close with,” those people being Charlie’s ex-boyfriend, “It’s totally normal.”

  
“But I’m not normal!”

  
“You don’t have to tell me,” she muttered.

  
“I don’t want to be jealous, Vags,” he confused, tears forming in his eyes again. He sniffed and whipped them, “But I just want Alastor to look at me and only me.”

  
Vaggie sighed, reaching out to take the tequila bottle gently from Angel’s hand. Angel resisted a little bit at first but let go as he didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. She placed the bottle on the counter and then took the tub of ice cream from him, which Angel gave up easily, and place the lit back on it.

  
“We’ll talk more in the morning, Angel. Right now you should try to go back upstairs and get some sleep,” she told him, “We’ll figure this out later.”

  
Angel sniffed but nodded his head as he stood up from his stool, leaving his spoon on the counter, and started to make his way out.

  
“Hey Vaggie,” he stopped, his back facing her, “Please don’t tell anyone about what I just told you, okay?"

  
His voice was so weak and sounded so unsure that it surprised Vaggie. She’s so use to him sounding so confident about everything he said and did, but not this.

  
“Yeah, I won’t tell anyone. Not even Charlie,” she assured him.

  
Angel didn’t reply but seemed satisfied with her answer as he left the kitchen.

  
Once Angel was gone Vaggie let out a heavy sigh as she felt a migraine coming on. Looking up to the kitchen clock she groaned when she saw it was 5:21. She might as well get ready to start the day since she’ll have to be up in an hour from now.

  
Getting up, Vaggie cleaned up Angel’s mess in the kitchen, and started to get breakfast ready for the hotel.

* * *

Vaggie let out yawn, catching Charlie’s attention from their shared office.

  
“You okay, Vaggie,” she asked, “You’ve been yawning a lot this morning.”

  
“I’m fine, Charlie. Just woke up earlier then I wanted is all,” said Vaggie, her eyes never leaving the screen of her laptop. Tapping on something.  
Charlie pouted a bit when her girlfriend didn’t bother to look up at her.

  
“What are you working?” Charlie asked curiously.

  
After breakfast was done and cleaned up. Charlie and Vaggie went straight to their office to work. After they paid the bills, they started to work on plans for the residents here at the hotel, pitching ideas to each other for each resident to see what would work best for them. Or at least that’s what they normally would do. But this morning, after taking care of the bills, Vaggie plugged in her earphones into her laptop and remain silent during the last hour. It actually made Charlie worried.

  
“Vaggie,” she called.

  
Vaggie didn’t reply, eyes focused on the screen.

  
Charlie’s frown deepened.

  
“Vaggie,” she called once more.

  
No reply.

  
“Vaggie!” Charlie tried a little louder.

  
That seemed to catch her attention, for Vaggie finally looked up to Charlie, pulling one of her earbuds out.

  
“You need something, hun?” she asked.

  
“I was trying to talk to you but you weren’t answering,” she Charlie, “What has you so focused this morning?”

  
“Oh, um,” Vaggie paused, “Just a side project that I’m doing some research on.”

  
“What kind of project.”

  
She can’t tell Charlie that she’s actually looking for a song for Angel to use in his audition; she promised Angel that she wouldn’t tell anyone, including Charlie. 

  
“Someone I know is trying to put together something and they need a little help in it. So I figure I would do some research on it,” it wasn’t lying really. She really was looking for a song for Angel after all.

  
“Is it someone I know? What is it that they are doing,” Charlie kept pushing.

  
Charlie can be annoyingly persistent when she wanted to be.

  
“They want it to be a surprise,” Vaggie answered. 

  
Charlie’s face fell for a second, but understood, “Alright.”

  
“Sorry, hun.”

  
“It’s okay Vags, I understand.”

  
“Well, it if makes you feel better. If all goes well you might see soon enough what it is,” said Vaggie.

  
That seemed to bring cheer back into Charlie’s eyes.

  
“Oh sounds like it’s going to be fun already,” Charlie smiled.  
  
“Hopefully,” said Vaggies.

  
“It’s almost time to go start my session with Villa. Hopefully I have everything I need,” Charlie stood up from her seat, sorting through all the work sheets she needs with Villa.

  
“You have everything you need with her?” Vaggie asked.

  
“Yeah, I think I’m all set here. I just need to grab a few things over here,” Charlie muttered, walking over to the other side of the office where a large cabinet sat, filled with musical instruments that Charlie likes to keep, rummaging around in it, “I just need something here.”

  
“What are you getting out of there?” Vaggie asked, not looking up from her screen.

  
“Villa mention in our last group session she likes music so I’m hoping maybe I-“

  
“Charlie!”

  
Niffty suddenly rushed into the office, swinging the door open with so much force that it startled both Charlie and Vaggie.

  
“What’s wrong, Niffty?” Charlie asked, looking very concern.

  
“Huck and Crymini are getting into a fight again,” Niffty reported.

  
Charlie groaned at the news. She really thought those two were finally getting along better.

  
“I’ll be right there,” she told Niffty.

  
Niffty nodded, rushing out of the room.

  
“I’ll be back,” Charlie placed the items she had her in hands on Vaggie’s desk and rushed out of the office to defuse the situation.

  
Vaggie spared a glance at the items on her desk. 

  
There were only two items that Charlie left a violin and a pair of drumsticks. The violin was beautiful and in excellent condition, it almost looked to be brand new in fact. It made Vaggie wonder if Charlie went out and bought it since classical music wasn’t so much up Charlie ally like show tunes. They did have a set of drums that was located in the ballroom where it was safely located, a perfect location for it to be as loud as it needed without disrupting anyone when played.

  
The instruments were an odd choice Charlie picked. Or perhaps they were what she had in her hand at that moment when Niffty came in. 

  
That’s when Vaggie suddenly remembered something.

  
Looking at the odd instruments again, Vaggie remembered when she was alive that her college roommate was obsessed with this new album that she got that was released in 2011. And that the people that made this album, she completely adored and would play them all the time. Vaggie counted her blessings that she didn’t have a roommate that wasn’t obsessed with pop songs or pop artists.

  
She was getting off track here.

Vaggie remembered that he roommate would play there new album all the time and there was this one song on there that had Vaggie thinking.  
Opening up a new browser Vaggie went to work in locating the song. Sadly she couldn’t remember the name of the song, or the people that made it. She basically had to go off on bits and pieces of memory of it. Some of the lyrics were fuzzy and the melody was missing some beats.

But after searching for twenty minutes, frying her brain cells while trying to recall the memories of it, she finally found it. 

  
She was able to locate the song on Hell’s version of YouTube, where there were multiple videos of it. She clicked on the video that looked to be the official music video of it.

  
This was it. 

  
It was perfect. 

  
Vaggie quickly closed her laptop, getting up from chair, laptop in arms, and rushed out of the office.

* * *

Angel felt like pure shit. 

  
Why did he think it was such a good idea to drink at four in the morning of hard core tequila with the only food source being a large tub of ice cream? Now he was paying for it big time as he lay on his bed, feeling as if he was going to puke again for the third time this morning. 

  
He’s been awake for a while now, maybe a little over an hour or so, when his stomach awoken before seconds he needed to hurl. After that, he couldn’t go back to sleep and just lay on his bed while trying to fight off the nausea. Trying to keep his mind busy he scrolled through his phone, checking social media, chatting with Cherri, and playing some dumb mindless games. It seemed to help, along with Fat Nuggets who came up to curling up beside him, as he was able to forget the nausea and what lead him in this state to begin with.

  
_‘Don’t think about, don’t think about them,’_ he chanted inside his head.

  
But it was difficult to get the image of Alastor and Mimzy out of his head. God it hurt so much to think about it that it just made him want to cry from the pain he felt that night when he saw them on the dance floor together.

  
Before the water works could kick up again, a knock at the door came.

  
Angel groaned.

  
“Go away, Charlie,” he called, turning on his side with his back to the door. He didn’t want to deal with the princess’s perky attitude right now.  
“It’s me Angel,” came Vaggie’s voice.

  
Angel looked over his shoulder, towards the door, a little surprise that Vaggie was at his door instead of Charlie. 

  
Why is Vaggie here?

  
Then he remembered that she found him as a blubbering mess earlier this morning in the kitchen. And being the drunken heartache fool he was he told her everything. 

  
Angel debated for a moment if he should get up and answer the door, or just ignore her and try to go back to sleep.

  
Vaggie knocked again, “Angel, open up. I think I’ve found something for you that might be what you’re looking for to show Evelyn.” She whispered the last part so no one out in the hall could hear. He actually almost missed it himself.

  
Curious to what Vaggie had. Angel forced himself up and out of bed, still feeling a little sick, and made his way to the door and opened it.

Vaggie stood on the other side, laptop in her arms, looking up to Angel, raising an eyebrow at the mess that he was.

  
Angel ignored that, leaning against the door frame for support, as he stared her down with tired eyes.

  
“Whatch got toots?”

* * *

The sound of the clock ended, signaling that the song was over.

  
Angel sat on his bed, crossed legged, with Fat Nuggets in his lap, staring at Vaggie’s laptop in front of him, with Vaggie standing on the side of the bed, watching for his reaction.

  
“So what do you think?” she asked.

  
“Why?” he asked.

  
Vaggie looked slightly annoyed, “Why what?” is this the kind of thanks she gets for searching for a damn song for him all morning.

  
Angel looked to Vaggie, caughting her off guard with the vulnerable look he was giving her.

  
“Why are you doing this for me? Why help me? You hate me,” he asked.

  
She sighed, “I don’t hate you Angel. You do annoy the fucking hell out of me, but I don’t hate you.”

  
“Then why?”

  
“Look, in some weird way, you’re my friend. And believe it or not, before meeting Charlie when I came down here, it’s not easy for me to make friends.”

  
Angel fake gasped, “No, really.”

  
“Would you shut up,” she glared at him, “I’m trying to be serious here.”

  
“Sorry, force of habit,” he said.

  
“In a weird way, I kind of look at you as one of my friends, don’t give me that look!”

  
“I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time processing this,” said Angel, “You are usually so ready to jump down my throat before I even get two words out of my mouth half the time.”

  
Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong there.

  
“I mean, you have got to have a lot more people to call friends then me,” said Angel.

  
Vaggie didn’t respond, looking away from Angel’s gaze.

  
“Oh,” maybe she didn’t, “I… look sorry if I have stepped over a boundary or something.”

  
“It’s okay. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with. And being down here hasn’t exactly made things easier for me to open up to people either,” she said.

  
“Yeah, don’t I know it,” Angel agreed, “Maybe we do have a few things in common then we think we do?”

  
Vaggie smile, “I think so too. As much as a pain of an ass you are, you aren’t too bad.”

  
“Thanks, and you aren’t that much of a bitch either.”

  
Angel half expected a sneer at him for the bitch comment but instead he was pleasantly surprise to see her crack a little smile. Perhaps they really do get along better than they thought.

  
“So we’re friends then, huh?” Angel stated more than questioned.

  
“Yeah, I guess we are,” said Vaggie.

  
“And friends help each other out?”

  
“When they are addicts and are trying for redemption, I guess so.”

  
“You make it sound like it’s more of you doing your job then doing it out of the kindness of your heart.”

  
“Just shut the fuck up.”

  
Angel laughed a little, making Vaggie laugh too.

  
“So the song?” Vaggie turned the conversation back to its original topic, “What do you think?”

  
“I think it’ll do. It might be a little risky but I think it’s everything that Evelyn is looking for. I like the song, it’s nice,” said Angel.

  
“I like it too; it’s got a good beat to it. Plus the lyrics of the song, I thought kind of suits you,”

  
Angel looked to her curiously.

  
“When you read and memorize the lyrics you’ll know what I mean,” said Vaggie.

  
He nodded.

  
“Thanks for doing this, Vags,” he said, “I’m sorry if I somehow put you in a spot.”

  
She shrugged like it was no big deal, “When is your audition?”

  
“Tomorrow, at one o’clock I think,” he answered, “Not much time to practice.”

  
“We’ll manage,” said Vaggie.

  
“We?”

  
“You already drag me into this mess you call your love life as it is, and going after one of most deadly demons in hell, which you must have second death wish.”

  
“Hey, I have a type.”

  
Vaggie rolled her good eye, before sitting down beside him on the bed, “Alright, scoot over,” she pulled her laptop towards her, “Let’s see if we can find the instrumental version of this song and get you started.”

* * *

  
After many hours of practicing, Angel had the song down.

  
He finally understood what Vaggie meant about the lyrics and found that they did seem to fit his feelings in song form. Maybe it was some sort of twisted fate that Vaggie found this song that was clearly meant for him to sing at the club. He just hoped that he was only good enough to be able to perform it live for everyone, especially Alastor.

  
It was already noon the next day and Angel was getting in one last practice in with Vaggie and Fat Nuggets as his audience. He finished singing the last versus, humming at the end as he let the music fade and the clock began.

  
Vaggie clapped, “I think you’ve got this.”

  
“I hope so,” Angel answered, fidgeting nervously.

  
“Well, you do. There is no way that she won’t like you,” Vaggie encouraged him.

  
Angel didn’t seem so sure, and it clearly showed on his face.

  
Vaggie rose from her seat on the bed, stepping closer to Angel to place a comforting hand on his arm, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  
“Can you come with me please, Vaggie. I don’t think I can go alone,” he asked.

  
“Sure,” she said, “If you need me there, I will be there.”

  
“It would be nice to see a familiar face while singing, to help the nerves.”

  
“I get it,” she looked at the clock, “We should leave now if we want to make it back on time. We need to be back by two-thirty for the group session today,” she grabbed her laptop off of Angel’s desk.

  
Angel groaned at hearing that.

  
“Hey, no excuses about it, remember,” she lightly scolded.

  
“Yeah, yeah let’s just get going,” he grumbled.

  
Vaggie rolled her eyes but followed Angel out the door.

  
Heading down stairs to the lobby, the place was deserted, other than Husk, who didn’t bother sparing a glance at them as they left. Since what Angel was doing was a secret, and Vaggie keeping true to her word of not tell Charlie, they had to hail a cab to get to the club since they couldn’t take the limo.

  
And of course the one to pick them up with Travis, great.

  
“Hey hot stuff,” he greeted Angel.

  
This is why Angel avoided taking the cabs; at least half of them are his clients.

  
“How you doing Shnookums,” Angel winked at Travis, before getting in.

  
Vaggie glared at Angel, and then at Travis, before she crawled in next after Angel, slamming the door.

  
“Hey, easier there!” Travis yelled.

  
“We need to get to The Fire Fox Club,” said Angel, ignoring the death glare match Vaggie was having with Travis.

  
“That place? Isn’t that a little richie for a slut, they probably wouldn’t even allow you three feet of the place,” Travis laughed, but was cut short when suddenly there was a large dagger only inches away from his face.

  
“Shut your fucking mouth and leave him be,” Vaggie hissed, glaring hard at Travis, “And take us to where we fucking want to go or else.”

  
Travis quietly nodded, turning back around and started the engine.

  
Angel was surprised by what just transpired in front of him. He’s always use to Travis’s poor name calling at him, and use to him looking down at Angel a little, like all his other johns, its party of the job of being a prostitute really. No real respect from the clients. But it was kind of nice to see Vaggie stand up for him, something that no one has ever done for him. It made him a little more grateful that he asked her to come with.

  
The car ride was quiet, but nice. It gave Angel a chance to mentally prepare himself and not deal with Travis by putting up his normal flirtatious nature. In fact, it seem like when Travis tried to make a move to say something to Angel, Vaggie blocked him, glaring at him, as if telling him to shup it and drive. Even more reason why he was glad she was here.

  
In no time they pulled up front of the club, empty and quiet this time around, as Angel and Vaggie got out of the cab.

  
“Here’s your money,” Vaggie all but threw it at Travis as she steered Angel up the steps.

  
Once Angel knew that the car was gone, he looked to her, “You don’t have to be so defensive, I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself, toots.”

  
“I know,” was all she said.

  
Figuring he wasn’t going to get much else from her Angel dropped it for now.

  
There was no bouncer at the top of the stairs this time around, only a sign on the ajar door that said ‘For reservations and auditions, please see receptionist inside’.

  
Angel and Vaggie looked to each other for a moment before Angel shrugged and pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  
The lobby was quiet, no longer filled with laugher or music in the air, just dead silence. In fact you would think the place was empty other than the imp, Tilly if Angel remembered correct, sat at the hostess desk working on the computer. Seeing no one else around, Angel and Vaggie walked up to the desk, catching Tilly’s attention immediately.

  
“Hello, do you wish to make a reservation?” she greeted.

  
“No,” Angel suddenly felt nervous, “I’m here for, I mean I’m here too… at least I’m-“

  
“Angel Dust has an audition today at one o’clock,” Vaggie answered for Angel, seeing that he was struggling.

  
Tilly picked up her HellPad, scrolling through it for a second until she found what she was looking for, “Ah, yes here we are. Evelyn is already waiting for you inside on the main floor,” she pointed to the open doorway that led to the main part of the club.

  
“Thank you,” said Vaggie as she steered a nervous Angel to the direction that Tilly pointed to.

  
Much like the lobby the main part of the club was quiet with only a few lights on, either to preserve power or they just saw no reason to light the whole place when they had no people. The only person in here was Evelyn, sitting at a table in the center of the dance floor, which she must have brought out to the center. She looked to be going over some paperwork with folders open and stacks of papers here and there, while calculating a few numbers she was typing in her calculator.

  
She reached over for her drink, looking up in time to see Angel and Vaggie enter.

  
“Ah Angel hun,” She looked at her wristwatch real quick, “you are right on time it seems. Unfortunately I’m not,” she chuckled.

  
“Hope we’re not interrupting you,” asked Vaggie.

  
“Oh no, of course not you are the ones on time,” Evenly stood up and walked towards them.

  
She was dress more causally today but still sharply dressed. She wore what looked almost like a white baggy pants suit, with the blouse’s first few buttons undone that exposed more skin that it should. She also had what looked like a light thin black and gray knee length jacket that looked to be made of silk. And to complete her outfit she wore a pair of low heeled gray shoes that complement the outfit perfectly. 

  
Evelyn turned her attention to Vaggie when she came close enough to them, “You are Vaggie, correct? I was not expecting anyone coming with Angel today since he wished to keep this private.”

  
“I kind of ended up needing her help,” Angel confessed.

  
“Ah,” answered Evelyn, “Sometimes there is no harm in asking for help from others.”

  
“And he needs a lot of help,” Vaggie added.

  
“Hey!” yelled Angel.

  
Evelyn laughed, “As much as I would love to continue on with the pleasantries I only have a small window for this. So if you please, Angel,” she gestured to the stage.

  
Angel’s nerves kicked up a notch, staring at the large empty stage.

  
He gulped, “Uh, s-sure thing.”

  
Making his way to the stage Vaggie followed close behind him while Evelyn returned to her table and chair. Angel and Vaggie took the side stairs of the stage, getting set up as Evelyn moved her chair to face the stage, taking a seat as she lit a cigarette. 

  
It didn’t take long for Angel to find a comfortable place to stand on stage, or as comfortable as it gets with his raging nerves and Vaggie to find the instrumental version of the song on her laptop. With the laptop ready to go, she grabbed a stool and brought it close to Angel for he can press the play button when he was ready.

  
“You got this,” Vaggie whispered before she walked off the stage and rushed up front to stand behind Evelyn.

  
Taking a few deep breathes Angel reached over to the laptop and press the play button. In no time the music began to play as a piano could be heard first.

  
Angel was a little shaky at first, nerves still running wild but it didn’t take to long for him to get caught in the song halfway through it. He tried not to look at Evelyn, instead focused on Vaggie who was smiling and giving him the thumbs up, letting him know he was doing great. This was the third time today he was grateful she was here. Not only did she block Travis off for him several times, but also gave him something to focus on as he sang, making his feel a little better, until he came to the end, letting the sound of a clock ticking fill the room until silence.

  
Vaggie had a smile on her face, making Angel feel pretty good about himself, until he found the courage to turn and look at Evelyn, where his heart sank.

  
Evelyn remained quiet, her expression and body language giving nothing away of what she thought of Angel’s performance. It was just blank.

  
Was it not enough? Did she not like the song, the performance, or him?

  
So many things were whirling in Angel’s head as he didn’t notice Evelyn putting her cigarette out, standing up from her seat, and started clapping.

  
Hearing that Angel jerked his head up to see that she was indeed clapping for him, as a small smile started to form on her black lips.

  
“That was very good,” she said, “Needs a little more work. But other than that, with some practice and nervous loosen, it was wonderful.”

  
“R-Really?” Angel couldn’t believe it, “You liked it?”

  
“Of course,” Evelyn laughed, “It’s a wonderful song. I’m surprise I haven’t heard it before myself.”

  
Angel smile grew, coming down the steps from the stage.

  
“It came out in 2011,” Vaggie told her, “it’s probably still very new compare to the stuff that’s usually played here.”

  
Angel gave Vaggie her laptop back.

  
“Ah, that would make sense. I will admit the guitar solo in there was a surprise. I actually like guitars in old rock, so it’s nice to hear it. Mimzy refuses to do anything that’s rock related, hates it really,” Evelyn commented.

  
Hearing that made Angel’s good mood soar even higher, if Mimzy didn’t do rock then there was no way she’s sang this song for sure.

  
“A week from now I can have a spot for you open at nine o’clock that night,” Evelyn informed, “Tilly up front will give you the backstage information that you need and passes. Since I’m sure you are aware of our dress code I expected you to dress the part when you preform.”

  
“Get a new dress, got it,” said Angel.

  
“I can provide you the band to play for you but you are probably going to need someone to play the guitar for you,” said Evelyn, “none of my boys are able to play guitar.”

  
“I can take care of that,” Vaggie said suddenly, “I can play it.”

  
“Really Vags?” Angel asked, shocked that Vaggie was offering to do this for him.

  
Vaggie rolled her eyes, “Hey, you got me in this so far already might as well go all the way.”

  
“Perfect then. But there is one last issue though. I’m in the middle of looking for a new pianist. My old one unfortunately had to go away on a… last second trip,” she informed.

  
Vaggie looked a little confused, wanting to ask Evelyn but stopped when Angel was gesturing to her not to ask. Apparently he knew what she meant and was letting Vaggie know it was a bad idea to ask her.

  
“So you might have to find a pianist until then since I can’t quite guarantied one for you,” she continued.

  
“We can take care of that,” said Vaggie.

  
“Wonderful. I look forward to seeing the full performance,” said Evelyn, “Just be sure to send the sheet music beforehand so the band can practice and be ready for you.”

  
“Thanks for this, Evelyn,” said Angel.

  
“Hmm, just make sure I don’t regret this hun,” is all she said.

  
“Trust me, it’ll probably be your biggest hit ever,” Angel answered with a bit of a cocky attitude.

  
Evelyn just smiled and turned to Vaggie, “I expect we’ll be in touch then?”

  
“I’ll gather the music sheets for the band in a few days,” said Vaggie.

  
“You two may see your way out. I’ll see you in a week,” Evelyn turned and walked back to her table.

  
Angel couldn’t help the grin on his face as he and Vaggie made their way out, making a quick stop to gather what they needed from Tilly, and exited the club.

  
Once they were out on the street Angel couldn’t help but pump his fist in the air in victory.

  
“I’m the best!” he declared.

  
Vaggie rolled her eyes but smiled none the less, “I wouldn’t say the best but you were good. Defiantly need some improvement, and then you’ll be the best.”

  
“Yeah, yeah don’t ruin my mood,” he brushed her off.

  
Vaggie chose to ignore the brush off, figuring Angel needed this at the moment, and looked at the time on her phone.

  
“We need to head back if we want to be back in time for the group session,” she said.

  
Angel made a loud groan at that, his good mood damping, as he followed Vaggie down the street.

  
Across the club, on the other side of the road, Velvet watched Angel and Vaggie walk away from the club after watching them come out.

  
Smiling, she pulled out her phone and immediately started texting.

  
**Hey, Val! When did your little baby Angel get all chummy with Ev? I just saw him leaving her club.**

* * *

Angel and Vaggie cab arrived in front of the hotel, with only two minutes to spare before the group session began. Angel immediately headed inside, leaving Vaggie to pay the cabbie, who was actually not a client of his for once, which Angel was actually kind of grateful for. Entering the hotel Angel was a little surprise to see that Husk wasn’t behind the counter, in fact he was nowhere in sight. Normally he usually manage his station like a pro, even if he was half drunk, and didn’t give much of a fuck of his duties.

  
“Where’s Husk?” Vaggie asked, coming up behind him.

  
Angel shrugged, and started to make his way to the conference room, “Who cares. Let’s get this dumb group session done with. What are we even doing today?”

  
“Actually, believe it or not, it’s a music session,” said Vaggie.

  
Angel laughed.

  
“I know,” said Vaggie, “Charlie wants to give it a try, especially since she thinks it will help Villa a lot. And she wants to try it with everyone else.”  
“Well, they do say that music does heal the soul or at least some shit like that,” said Angel.

  
“That’s what she’s hoping.” 

  
“By the way, any idea where to find a pianist?” 

  
“No,” said Vaggie, “That’s going to be a bit of a challenge.”  
  
“I know a few co-workers that can play but I rather none of them knew of this. I hate to think of what would happen if Val found out I was doing this,” confessed Angel.

  
Vaggie nodded, “That’s going to be the tricking part in all of this, finding someone that won’t spill the beans.”

  
“Plus, this is Hell. Finding someone that is train to play the piano isn’t going to be easy.”

  
“Yeah,” she agreed, “for now let’s get through the session first and then we will figure it out later.”

  
The closer they got to the conference room they could hear music playing.

  
“Seems like they started the party without us, how rude,” said Angel.

  
“Like you care.”

  
“Hey toots, say what you want but I’m in too much of a good mood for you to pull me down,” said Angel.

  
Vaggie just shot him a look before she smiled and shook her head, opening the door to the room.

  
As soon as the door open, the music blasted in their face, making them hesitate a little bit for they weren’t expecting it to be so loud. It was a nice up beat jazz song that was playing that wanted to make you get up and dance a little bit. In fact, inside the room they found that Nifty was here, dancing along with the song with Charlie, while everyone watched. And it seemed like everyone was here.

  
“That’s great sweetie!”

  
As well as a surprise guest that made Angel’s good mood suddenly plummeted ten stories.

  
Mimzy was dancing between Charlie and Niffty, giving them pointers on their dance moves while everyone sat on the side watching the girls dance away. Even Alastor, who usually hides in the shadows during the sessions, came over with the others to watch the girls dance.

  
Vaggie was shocked to see Mimzy here, not expecting to see her here at all. She glanced over to Angel’s direction, concern to see that the smile he once wore was completely gone, standing still in place with a expression that she couldn’t place what it was. If she had to guess it was somewhere between shock and sadness.

  
Charlie twirled around in time to see Angel and Vaggie had entered the room.

  
“Vaggie!” Charlie quickly rushed over to her girlfriend, grabbing her hands, “Mimzy stopped by to help with today’s session when she learned we were going to use music and dancing to help! It’s that great!”

  
“Uh,” Vaggie glanced back towards Angel for a second before trying to smile, “Yeah that’s great. But how did she know that?”

  
“I told her!” Niffty declared.

  
“When Niffty told me of your plans to use music as therapy, I thought I would offer my services to help,” said Mimzy.

  
“It’s that nice of her!” said Charlie.

  
“Yeah…,” Angel finally answered, his good mood completely gone, “that’s real nice of her.”

* * *

Evelyn was looking through the last of her books, trying to calculate the amount of liquor they needed to order by next week. Good booze was hard to come by here in Hell unless you knew the right people and pay top dollar for it. And considering this was the Hell everyone was trying to con you when you are trying to pay high quality stuff. But Evelyn has been in this business long enough to know how to play the game, even when she was alive in Chicago she ran a few Speakeasies and the mob, and to make it clear to others you don’t cheat her without paying the price.

  
A commotion from the lobby caught her attention, her fox ears perking up as she tried to make out what was going on.

  
It didn’t take long for her to know what was up when suddenly Valentino’s towering form came storming in, a scowl on his face, with poor Tilly following after him, trying to stop him. Evelyn immediately rose from her seat, stepping around the table as Valentino came up to her.

  
“You,” Valentino pointed at her, “Have a lot of fucking nerve, bitch!”

  
“I’m sorry ma’am, I tried to stop him,” Tilly apologized immediately to Evelyn.

  
“Its okay, Tilly. I don’t think you could stop him if you could,” said Evelyn, waving her off to let her know to leave them.

  
Tilly hesitated at first but left at Evelyn’s request, leaving the two alone.

  
“So Valentino, what do I owe to this sudden visit,” she asked calmly.

  
“Don’t act like you don’t know,” his scowl deepened.

  
“I’m afraid I really don’t know what you are talking about, would you please clarify why you are so angry at me?”

  
“Velvet told me she saw Angel Dust leaving your club a few hours ago when he’s supposed to be working, which he’s been skipping out on recently!”

  
“So you blame me for him not working? And how is this my fault?”

  
“This wouldn’t be the first time you’ve tried to take my babies away from me you fucking fox!” he hissed.

  
“If they wish to leave your employment from you to pursuit better opportunities, it’s not my fault that I provided it for them,” she smirked, as two tails suddenly appeared with her existing one. A sign to show Valentino that she was not intimidated by him and to tread carefully.

  
Valentino growled, “What are you fucking play at here? Do you really think you can take my biggest cash cow away from me by giving him pretty lies that he could be something like a silly stage performer at this dump?”

  
Evelyn kept her smiled but all the candles in the club suddenly lit up by blue flames.

  
“For your information, Valentino, I didn’t promise Angel Dust anything. In fact he was the one that came to me and asked to give him a chance to sing here at my club. I’ve never met him before until a few days ago and we’ve only spoke but a few words to each other and nothing more, until he came bagging to me to give him a chance to sing here. So please get your facts straight before you start accusing things that are not true.”

  
His eye narrowed, “How much?”

  
She raised a brow, “How much what.”

  
“How much are you paying him for this gig? Seventy-five percent of what he makes goes to me, so how much are you paying him,” he demanded to know.

  
“Nothing.”

  
“Nothing!”

  
She shrugged, “That’s what I said. I never offered him money and he never asked for it, therefore, nothing.”

  
“You mean he’s doing this for free, instead of working?” 

  
“There was no agreement of money between us since this is just a onetime thing. If you have an issue with this then take it up with Angel Dust, not me,” said Evelyn before she smirked, “Of course, if Angel shows interest in continuing to preform here, if he does well enough, I will consider hiring him.”

  
Valentino leaned down to her, sneering as he got into her face, “Don’t push your luck fox.”

  
“Dear Valentino, don’t you know, I make my own luck. I’m a natural at it.”

  
Valentino still glared at her, pulling away from her face before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. Evelyn watched him leave with a glare, eyes never leaving his form until he was gone from her sight. 

  
She pulled a cigarette out of her jacket, lighting it, taking a few drags of it before she called for Tilly.

  
The red imp came out immediately at her call.

  
“Yes, ma’am?” she asked.

  
“Call pest control and tell them to spray the club from head to toe. I want the feel of cockroach gone from this place,” Evelyn lightly scowled.

  
“Yes, ma’am,” Tilly nodded and left to do as she was told, leaving Evelyn alone in a foul mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone figured out the song yet? I left a lot of clues in this chapter.
> 
> To get more updates on my work find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitewinds2
> 
> Here is Evelyn's profile: https://twitter.com/whitewinds2/status/1255561710229811200


	4. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intermission time with the Helluva Boss gang!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not planned, I just felt like doing this at the last minute.

**Imp City, Headquarters of I.M.P**

  
“Loona.”

  
The Hellhound in question ignored the call, scrolling through her phone, sitting behind her desk.

  
“Loona!”

  
She opened up an app, chuckling lightly as she watched Moxxie being blown up.

  
“Loona!”

  
She snickered a little louder when a giant meteor came and crushed Moxxie to death.

  
“LOONA!”

  
“What!” she yelled.

  
Blitzo appeared in the door way of his office.

  
“Has the toad demon called back yet?” he asked.

  
“No, it’s been the same answer for the last week,” she bluntly said.

  
“What the fuck is taking that asshole so long to call. I’ve spend all of Moxxie’s salary for the next month to treat that fancy ass bastard to lunch to get that contract from him,” complained Blitzo.

  
“I wouldn’t exactly call the place you took him to fancy,” said Loona, “You basically just took him to a three star restaurant that just serves mediocre food and bland drinks.”

  
“The place still wasn’t cheap,” Blitzo mumbled, coming closer to Loona’s desk, “It’s still nicer then the places that he’s already visited here in Hell, probably.”

  
“Why do you even need this fucker’s contract anyway?”

  
Blitzo gasped at Loona, “Do you really not know?”

  
She barely spared him a glance.

  
“Do you remember the meeting from last week?”

  
“No.”

  
“The toad demon just arrived here in Hell only a total of six months ago and started to build a reputation for himself. As well as a large chuck of cash too,” said Blitzo, “The ones apparently that whacked him when he was alive, he wants them good and dead as soon as possible. But I.M.P. isn’t the only company that specials in what we do. Like those assholes that opened up shortly after we did.”

  
“You mean the I.K.P. Company?” she asked.

  
“Immediate Kill Professionals, that’s a total rip off of our name. And it’s not even original or clever at all!” Blitzo complained.

  
“And like ours is?”

  
“Point is we need this contact or the company will be bankrupt by next month,” said Blitzo.

  
That caught Loona’s attention.

  
“How are we out of money so soon? Didn’t we have those two big jobs last month? Surely those jobs would keep our pockets full for a while,” asked Loona.

  
Blitzo had a guilty look on his face, starting to sweat bullets.

  
Loona narrowed her eyes, “What the fuck did you do?”

  
“Well… I might have made a poor business investment,” he said.

  
“What kind of business investment?”

  
He hesitated before answering, “The kind at the craps tables?”

  
She growled, “You fucking gambled all our money away!”

  
“Now I didn’t gamble it all way. Just only ninety percent of it is all. We still have the ten percent of it,” he said.

  
She sighed, leading back against her seat as she felt a headache coming on. Why did she have to deal with this constant bullshit?

  
“Which is why we really need this contract to save our asses,” he stated.

  
“You mean your ass,” said Loona.

  
“We need to figure out how to woo the toad demon to our side and away from I.K.P. Knowing those bastards over there they are probably wining and dining him at a fancy joint,” Blitzo grumbled.

  
“Then take him somewhere even better,” Loon said like it was the most obvious thing.

  
“How exactly? I already spend Moxxie’s salary for the bastard. Though I could probably use Millie’s salary on him if I have too,” he muttered.  
“Then take him to somewhere that they can’t take him to. You know a place that would probably make him feel as high class as you can down here,” she pitched.

  
Blitzo thought, “That’s an idea, somewhere really classy, but where?”

  
Loona smirked, “Why don’t you ask Stolas for ideas.”

  
A shiver went down Blitzo’s spine, “I’m never calling that rich asshole for anything again.”

  
She rolled her eyes.

  
“There has to be somewhere we can take the toad demon to without,” he shivered, “Stolas’s help.”

  
“Well, lucky for you I might have a solution,” said Loona.

  
Blitzo perked up at that.

  
“It so happens that I still follow one of your Exs on Hellbook, and they’ve got connections to the fanciest club of all of Hell.”

  
“Which club?”

  
“The Fire Fox Club.”

  
Blitzo lunged over Loona’s desk before she even knew what was happening, her phone yanked from her hand.

  
“Hey!” she growled.

  
Blitzo scrolled through Loona’s HellBook account until he found the name that he needed.

  
* * *

  
Tilly let out a large yawn as she entered her bathroom, flicking on the lights as she strolled right up to the bathroom mirror. Dear Lucifer, she looked like shit, not to mention felt like it too.

  
Her long silver hair was a tangled mess, with her low horns lost in the mess that was her hair, the only evidence they were even there was the curl tips of them sticking out of the mess. Her red eyes were basically bloodshot from the long night she had, along with a few bottles of merlot that she regretted now. But yesterday at work was just a total nightmare.

  
First Valentino showed up unannounced, angry over something and basically shoved Tilly to the side while looking for Evelyn, and then after he left, her boss was in an awful mood that if you breathed the wrong way she wouldn’t hesitate to rip your throat out. And to top it all off, there was a plumbing issue in the kitchen that needed to be taken care ASAP before the club open in less than three hours. Oh yeah, it was one of those days alright that called for several bottles of wine.

  
After a quick shower Tilly dried her hair and styled it into a cute low bun with a black dahlia hairpin to hold her bangs in place. She put on a cute 1920s vintage suit with rich maroon colored pants and a dark cream color top with a low V-Neck, and a matching rich maroon jacket.

  
Normally this wasn’t really her style but considering the place she works at, and her boss always expects her to dress professionally, it was expected. But damn she knew how to rock an old school look. 

  
Tilly was in the middle of putting on the finally touches of her make-up when her Hellphone started to buzz. Stopping midway of applying her mascara Tilly picked her phone up and looked to see an unknown number. She squinted at it for a moment, seeing if she knew this number, before she shrugged and put her phone down. Her phone started buzzing again when she finished her makeup, looking to see it was the same number again but decided to ignore it when she looked at the time. If she didn’t leave now she will be late, it’s never a good idea to make her boss wait for her.

  
She lived in a nice area in Pentagram City, better and cleaner streets with lower crime and murders in this area. Much better then the dump she used to live in at Imp city, one of the perks of working for a wealthy Overlord that made sure their employees are cared for. And Tilly wants to makes sure that she stayed in Evelyn’s good grace as long as she could. Here Tilly didn’t have trouble of finding a cab each morning to get to work, nor worry about the cabbies trying to rob, kill, or rape you. Well they will still try to steal from you but the last two not so much at least. Her phone started to buzz again from the same unknown number that’s called her twice already. Whoever the Hell it was she was starting to get pissed and was about to answer the phone, just to tell them off, when she got a text from her boss. Evelyn was requesting a coffee from her, as well as Mimzy, and to bring some of those pastries from that one coffee shop that Tilly visits every morning. Forgetting the unknown number Tilly texted Evelyn to confirm her order just as the cabby pulled up to the coffee shop, a block away from the club.

  
The coffee shop was actually quite tasteful and served some really good stuff, one of the reasons why Tilly visits here every morning despite their overpriced items. But it’s worth it.

  
After paying the cab driver, she entered the shop to see that it wasn’t very busy this morning with only one person ahead of her. Something that she was grateful for since this place is usually busy when she got here. And with two extra coffee orders, along an order of pastries, she needed to be in and out quick. When it was her turn, she placed her order, hinting that the order was for their local Overlord and how if they get it wrong it will be their head. Tilly wasn’t sure if Evelyn would but seeing the look of fear on the barista’s face was a little entraining to watch.

  
With her order placed Tilly moved to the pick-up counter, waiting for her order while texting with Evelyn.

  
With the club without a professional pianists Evelyn’s been on Tilly’s back to find one ASAP. But for the hunt of one that met all the requirements was easier said than done.

  
Lucifer! Why did the son of a bitch think it was a good idea to steal right from under Evelyn’s nose? It would have made their lives so much easier, well at least Tilly’s, if he wasn’t so stupid. 

  
So focused on her phone she failed to notice a garbage can inching closer to her side.

  
“Tilly!” Blitzo suddenly popped out from the bin, sending trash flying everywhere.

  
Tilly screamed, almost dropping her phone as she placed a hand over her heart, looking at Blitzo in shock.

  
“B-Blitzo!? What the fucking hell are you doing here? And why are you in the damn trashcan!?” she yelled, so not in the mood to deal with this first thing in the morning.

  
“That’s no way to say hi to an old Ex. I thought you were the one with the most class in our relationship,” said Blitzo.

  
“Well considering that I’m not the one that was hiding out in the trash, I do,” she growled.

  
Blitzo laughed, waving her off, pissing Tilly off, “Still the same wet blanket I see.”

  
“Just answer the fucking question, why are you here and in the trashcan?” she demanded.

  
“Because you wouldn’t answer any of my phone calls this morning,” he said.

  
“Phone calls?” she paused for a moment as it dawn on her, “That was you calling me!? How did you get my number!? It’s a new number I got after we broke up!”

  
“Well it wasn’t easy to find, I’ll tell you that,” he answered.

  
Oh Lucifer she could feel a migraine coming on. She so did not need this.

  
“So, anyways I need a favor,” he started.

  
“Oh course you do. You always have an angle for something you want,” she scuffed.

  
“You know I don’t really appreciate this attitude that I’m getting from you. I don’t understand how you are being so cruel to me,” Blitzo started bring out the waterworks, “We had so much fun together, sharing so many laughs and joys as we painted the town red. I was the perfect gentlemen to you for all those years.”

  
“We only dated for three weeks,” she pointed out, not moved by his tears.

  
“Well to me it felt like forever, moments that I will forever cherish in my heart!”

  
She rolled her eyes.

  
“What did I ever do to receive such cold treatment from you!” he cried.

  
She stared at him like the dumbass that he is.

  
“Are you fucking serious! You fucking took life insurance out on me! I mean what the hell! How did you even pull that off since we were only dating for three weeks?” she yelled.

  
“Oh sure that’s the part you remember during our whole relationship,” said Blitzo.

  
“Of fucking course it is!” she yelled.

  
“Tilly, your order is ready,” called the barista.

  
“Fucking finally,” she muttered, turning away from Blitzo.

  
“So about that favor, Tilly,” he started.

  
“No,” she said, grabbing her order and walking out the door.

  
“Oh come on! I haven’t even asked you yet,” he followed her.

  
“It’s still no.”

  
“So here’s the deal.”

  
She felt her eye beginning to twitch.

  
“My company I.M.P., we are trying to win a contract from a high-end client that will pay high for taking out a target that he’s been itching to be rid of,” Blitzo began talking, following Tilly down the street as she made her way to the club, “but our rival company is trying to snatch him away by wining and dining him, the fancy asshole.”

  
“And is this my problem how?” she grumbled.

  
“Well,” he walked in front of her, “you will be helping saving the company! My two loyal henchmen, Millie and Moxxie, great at we do, not so much Moxxie since he falls down on the job all the time, literally. But Millie is a sweetheart that loves her work and is such a go getter that I would hate to see the sad look on her face when she learns that I can’t pay her. And Loona, you remember Loona, my little baby girl Loona, who I adopted with the cutest eyes, I wouldn’t be able to afford to send her to collage to get the best education that she can get in Hell. Not to mention we wouldn’t be able to pay the rent and be force-“

  
“Get to the point!” Tilly yelled, walking around him, continuing on her way.

  
Blitzo followed after her, “So to help save our company I figured we could woo our client from the enemy by taking him to the biggest and fanciest club in Hell. So I figured ‘Hey, why don’t I ask Tilly since she owes me a favor’ and that’s why I’m here.”

  
“I owe you!” she hissed before suddenly stopping, realizing what his angle was before whipping around to glare at him, “You want me to sneak you and your client into the club, don’t you,” she hissed.

  
“Well since you are offering.”

  
“The answer is a big fat fucking no, Blitzo.”

  
“Oh come on. Tilly,” Blitzo whined.

  
“No! Do you even realize what you are even asking of me? You are basically asking me to sneak you into an Overlord’s territory without paying the proper fee. You will get us both killed!” yelled Tilly.

  
“Now you are just overacting.”

  
“You didn’t see what happened to our last pianist that thought they could pulled a fast one on my boss,” she shivered at the memory.

  
“We really need this, Tilly. You are our company’s only hope to save us from the streets,” said Blitzo, “Do you need me to beg? Because I will get on my knees right here, in the streets, in front of everyone, to see how cold and heartless you are being right now.”

  
“I’m not-“

  
“Oh Moxxie, what shall we do?” suddenly a little female imp appeared before them, followed by another one that had a grumpy look on their face, “we don’t have enough money to pay for our rent next month! We shall surely be kicked out of our home.”

  
The other imp, Moxxie scowled a bit, “There, there Millie,” he patted Millie on the shoulder, “Surely we will be fine. After all, I.M.P. always makes sure to help their poorest employees. After all we-“ Moxxie hesitated for a moment before pulling a script out from his pocket and read it out loud, “have Blitzo as our boss that makes sure to put his employees first. Because he’s that great and amazing, and that anyone that had once dated him should have appreciated those glorious moments with him, so- Sir, you can’t be serious,” Moxxie cut off and looked to Blitzo.

  
“Just shut it Moxxie and finish the script!” ordered Blitzo.

  
“Don’t both, I’m already late as it is with messing around with you Blitzo. Please do me a favor and leave me alone!” she yelled at him, before crossing the street where the club sat.

  
“Please Tilly!” Blitzo ran across the street, narrowing missing a car that swerved to the left and hit another car, “you are our only hope!”

  
“I don’t give a fuck!” she marched up the steps, passing a large bull demon at the top, “Bruno,” she greeted him.

  
The bull demon nodded to her as she passed him and entered inside.

  
Blitzo tried to follow her inside but was stopped by the bull demon.

  
“Do you have an appointment,” asked Bruno, picking Biltzo up by the back of his coat.

  
“Uh.”

  
That was all the answer he need before he booted Blitzo all the way back to the other side of the street, where Moxxie and Millie stood.

  
“What do we do now?” Millie asked.

  
“Sir, did you really think this was going to work?” asked Moxxie.

  
“It would have worked if you had sold it more, Moxxie. That was a horrible performance that I have ever seen. She was buying it until you started talking.”

  
“It looked like she wasn’t buying it all,” Moxxie pointed out.

  
“Maybe we should try a different approach with the client. Something other than the club,” said Millie.

  
“Can’t, already promised him yesterday we are taking him here tonight,” said Blitzo.

  
Moxxie’s eyes widen, “Are fucking serious!”

  
“So now what?” asked Millie.

  
“We go on to plan B,” declared Blitzo.

  
* * *

  
“This is your plan B!” Moxxie hissed quietly to Blitzo in the small limo.

  
The I.M.P. gang were all dressed up tonight, even Loona surprisingly, as they sat in the limo of their potential client, heading towards The Fire Fox Club. 

  
“What do you plan on doing when we get there, sir?” Moxxie whispered to Blitzo beside him.

  
“Oh Moxxie, you worry too much, just leave everything to me,” said Blitzo.

  
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Moxxie mumbled but sat back against his seat.

  
The car ride was silent for no one said a word, not even the toad demon in his overly expensive suit, or his two goons beside him. Blitzo tried to get the ball rolling by starting up a conversation but one look from the client told him that he was not in the mood for talk.

  
The car finally pulled up to the club, a valet came and open the door, letting the toad demon and his men out first, followed by Blitzo and the rest. 

  
“How are we going to get through the line?” Millie eyed the long line of people that are waiting to enter the club.

  
“Don’t worry, Millie. I’ve got this handled,” Blitzo marched up to the steps where Bruno stood guard, “Hey, Bruno! It’s Bruno right? How ya doing this evening?”

  
Bruno stared down at Blitzo, “Do you have reservations?”

  
“Reservations,” he coughed, “Of course we do, it’s Blitzo,” he tried to slip a large bill to Bruno.

  
Bruno ignored the bill and flipped through his check list, “Name’s not here.”

  
“Is there a problem, Mr. Blitzo?” the toad demon asked from behind him.

  
Blitzo turned around to face the toad demon, “No, no everything is fine!”

  
“What now, sir?” Moxxie whispered.

  
“Honestly, I’m at a lost here,” Blitzo answered.

  
“You mean you didn’t actually have a plan?”

  
“Hey bribing usually works at places like this. Not my fault they actually hired a stuck up guard that doesn’t know a good bribe when it bites them in the ass,” said Blitzo.

  
“Mr. Blitzo, are we going in or not,” the toad demon began to become impatient.

  
“Of course, sir,” Blitzo assured him, “We are just having a little trouble with finding the reservation. It’s somewhere we-“

  
“Try Camila,” Loona suddenly asked Bruno.

  
Bruno looked through his list once more.

  
“Here we are, Camila,” said Bruno, stepping aside to allow them in, “Welcome to The Fire Fox.”

  
“Thanks,” Loona barely spared him a glance as she walked in with everyone following close behind her.

  
“How did you do that?” Millie asked, surprised how easy that was to get in.

  
“A rising celebrity I follow on HellBook has started to visit this place recently. Tonight they’re out of action so I figured, hey what the hell and give it a try,” was all the explanation that Loona was going to give.

  
“Oh Loonie you are best,” Blitzo hugged her, making her growl in annoyance.

  
Done with the hug, she shoved Blitzo off and turned her attention back to her phone.

  
“Don’t get excited yet. I may have gotten us through the door but the rest you’re going to have to do,” said Loona gesturing over to the hostess desk where Tilly sat, helping someone.

  
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Biltzo fixed his outfit a bit and started to march towards the hostess desk.

  
Tilly was finishing up a reservation that one of their usual guests made, only this one is a little on the special side for it was an anniversary. Once everything was set and in their computers she handed them the receipt and thanked them for their reservation. She smiled and turned to the next person waiting in line to only have her smile drop to a scowl at seeing Blitzo marching up to her desk.

  
Quickly, Tilly rounded her desk until she was standing face to face with Blitzo, her hands on her hips and scowl growing by the second.

  
“How the Hell did you get pass Bruno,” she growled low enough for only Blitzo to hear. It would not look good for the hostess of a high end club like this to make a scene. Evelyn wouldn’t have.

  
“Tilly!” Blitzo greeted her like an old friend, “I want you to meet our client, the toad demon,” he introduced to her.

  
The large toad stepped towards Tilly, nodded at her. She had to admit, she was expecting someone that Blitzo to bring be either a total slime ball or some low level loser demon. At least this guy looks like he belongs here in the club.

  
“You have lovely establishment here. We heard many good things of this place that I’ve been dying to experience myself,” he spoke in a bit of a British accent.

  
“Well, thank you. But unfortunately,” she shot Blitzo a nasty glare, “You-“

  
“My friend,” Blitzo cut in and covered Tilly’s mouth, “Why don’t you go freshen up while we talk some quick business that I’m sure that you don’t want to waste your time to hear.”

  
“Hm, yes that does sound acceptable. May I ask where your facilities are?” asked the toad demon.

  
Tilly continued to glare at Blitzo but pointed to the right where the restrooms were located.

  
Once the toad demon and his goons were gone, Blitzo removed his hand from Tilly’s mouth.

  
“You have a lot of nerve,” she scowled.

  
“Come on Tilly, would it really kill you if you did this one little favor for me?” whine Blitzo.

  
“Yes,” she wasn’t lying.

  
“Hi, we never exactly meet properly since this morning,” Millie came up beside Blitzo and Tilly, “I’m Millie and this is my husband, Moxxie.”

  
“Yes, I remember you two. You two are going to be kicked out of your home if you don’t make rent if I remember correctly,” said Tilly.

  
“Well, actually-“ Moxxie started but was cut off by Blitzo.

  
“Yes they will be homeless if you don’t help, Tilly! I mean look at poor Moxxie” Blitzo said, grabbing Moxxie by the face and hauled him up to Tilly, “Look at this little; poor, weak, helpless, wuss, he wouldn’t survive on the streets if you don’t help him. Do you want that, Tilly?”

  
“Excuse me!” Moxxie growled at his boss.

  
“Look Blitzo, I get it. You guys are in a tight spot but you and I,” she pointed to herself and Blitzo, “we are not friends, and never will be! Not after the shit you tried to pull!”

  
“But Tilly-“

  
“The answer is no, you ungrateful, lazy-ass, son of a bitch-“

  
“Blitzy, is that you~”

  
Blitzo froze up, “Oh no.”

  
Stolas’s shadow fell over the imps as he came up to the hostess desk.

  
“What a pleasant surprise~” Stolas cooed.

  
“Stolas!” Blitzo turned around, putting on his best fake smile, “Nice to see you! Sorry I haven’t been able to return your calls. Lost my phone and haven’t been able to get a new one with business picking up and all.”

  
Loona snorted, earning a glare from Blitzo.

  
“I’m happy to hear,” Stolas purred, grabbing Blitzo’s chin so he could look up at the tall bird, “And here I thought you were ignoring me.”

  
Blitzo laughed, “What! Never,” he batted the hand away from his face.

  
From the side Tilly watched the scene before her, very confused to what was happening.

  
“Then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind joining me and a few chaps tonight. I would love to have your company tonight,” said Stolas.

  
“Well actually I’m here on business-“ he tried to get out of it but Stolas wouldn’t have it.

  
“You have your little friends here with you; surely they can take care of it for you.”

  
“But-“

  
“Come Blitzy, we’ll have a fun time,” Stolas grabbed Blitzo’s arm and started to drag him away to the reserve area for just royals and Overlords.

  
Tilly watched them disappeared, still confused and wondered if she should run after them or not, since Blitzo snuck in here.

  
Loona’s snickering brought her attention back to the others.

  
“What just happened,” she asked.

  
Moxxie groaned, “It’s a long story, and I don’t even understand most if it.”

  
“Our boss and Stolas have history,” Millie added.

  
“Yeah, and its history that he rather not remember,” Loona continued to snicker, still focused on her phone.

  
“He didn’t look to happy about going off with Stolas,” Tilly muttered.

  
Loona finally looked up, “That would be an understatement of how he really feels of being around Stolas.”

  
“You mean, right now he’ll be miserable all night, and in a personal hell of his own?” Tilly’s face lightens up.

  
“Yep,” answered Loona.

  
“Where is Mr. Blitzo?” the toad demon and his goons returned from the restroom.

  
Moxxie and Millie looked to each other, not sure how to explain the situation now.

  
“You see, sir. Our boss has been forcefully called for… personal business,” answered Millie.

  
“Yes, it’s just us with you tonight,” said Moxxie.

  
“Look sir,” Millie started, a frown on her usual sunny face, “We don’t know how to tell you this but we’re sorry to say that-“

  
“That it took so long to find you reservations!” Tilly cut in, grabbing her HellPad offof her desk, “And here they are, so sorry for the inconvenience on my part, busy night and all.”

  
“Ah wonderful,” said the toad demon, smiling at the news.

  
Moxxie, Millie, and even Loona looked to Tilly in surprise.

  
“If you go to the right it will lead you to the main part of the club where a server will show you to a table,” said Tilly.

  
The toad demon nodded his thanks as he and his goons headed to the main part of the club.

  
“You’re seriously letting us in?” Moxxie asked in surprise.

  
“I thought you didn’t want to help us,” said Millie.

  
“Oh no, I just don’t want to help Blitzo,” she told them, “You guys go and have a good time tonight. Just try to keep a low profile and avoid my boss if you can.”

  
Millie squealed, “Thank you!” she raced off after the toad demon with Moxxie following behind her.

  
“I want full details later of the whole thing between Stolas and Blitzo,” Tilly told Loona.

  
“I’ll message you on HellBook,” was Loona’s reply before turning and slowly following after Moxxie and Millie.

  
Once they were gone Tilly made her way upstairs to the reserve area for royals and Overlords to check on things. There weren’t many people up here tonight, just Stolas and a few of his stuffy colleagues that seem to be talking about something dull. And there in Stolas’s arm was Blitzo, looking miserable for being there.

  
Blitzo looked over to Tilly’s direction, mouthing the words ‘Help me’ while Tilly just grinned, giving him a wave of her figures before she turned and headed back to the lobby.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel and Vaggie find their pianist, and Angel goes dress shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone that this took so long. I was busy with Radiodust Week, so that took a lot of my time.
> 
> This chapter was hard for me to write. It's not bad, just not my favorite. But I think you guys will enjoy it.

Out of all the group sessions that Angel was force to attend, during his whole stay here at the hotel, this was by far the worse one.

  
Everyone was gathered together in a circle like usual only this time Mimzy has joined in and was sitting right next to Charlie on the right with Vaggie sitting on her left. Charlie was babbling on about something that Angel didn’t care for and was to focus on glaring Mimzy to death. At some point it must have been a little too obvious to what he was doing for Vaggie had to keep nudging his leg to quit it. Vaggie couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about this. Even though she had no idea that Charlie invited Mimzy over today, but still it made her sad to see the happy mood he was in earlier was completely gone now.

  
“Okay everyone!” Charlie gained everyone’s attention, “It’s time to talk about our favorite things about music and how it helps us. Who wants to go first?”

  
No one answer.

  
Charlie’s face fell a little, “No one?”

  
“How about I get this ball rolling for you, sugar,” said Mimzy.

  
“That’s a great idea!” said Charlie.

  
Angel sunk in his chair a little more.

  
“I’ve always enjoyed music, since I was a little girl, and love nothing more than to sing and dance. You can say it might have sadly cost me dearly in the end,” Mimzy laughed.

  
“Maybe we should move on to someone else,” Chalrie said politely getting what Mimzy meant.

  
“Sorry hon, I suppose that wasn’t the best example I suppose,” said Mimzy.

  
“No its fine, Mimzy,” Charlie tried to assure her.

  
“I’m here to help and I feel like I’m not doing such a swell job at that,” said Mimzy.

  
“You’re doing just fine, dear Mimzy,” Alastor suddenly said from the side, sitting with Husk and Niffty.

  
Mimzy giggled, blushing a little, “If you say so.”

  
Angel’s vision went red for a moment at the praise she got from Alastor.

  
“Crymini! Why don’t you go next,” Vaggie quickly intervened and get this whole thing back on track, and put Angel’s focus elsewhere. 

  
Crymini looked a little surprise at first but went with it.

  
“Yeah, all right,” she said, “I guess music does help improve my mood when I’m in a shitty one. You know, helps me unwind a bit.”

  
“Do you say it helps you relax and make you less angry?” asked Charlie. Everyone could see the hopeful look in her eyes.

  
Crymini shrugged, “Sure, I guess.”

  
“That’s wonderful, Crymini!” Charlie praised, “What kind of music helps you?”

  
“I really enjoy rock. Anything with a good head bang really,” she answered.

  
Angel couldn’t help but smirk when he noticed Mimzy’s face wrinkle up in displeasure, remembering Evelyn mentioned she doesn’t like anything that is rock music.

  
“But I fucking hate children songs, especially Disney songs. Makes me want to hurl,” said Crymini.

  
“Okay, thank you for sharing, Crymini,” said Charlie, before looking to Baxter, who was sitting next to Crymini, “How about you Baxter? How does music help you?”

  
Baxter hummed to himself as he carefully thought of the question.

  
“Many studies show that music has a great effect on the mind and body, and many experiments-“

  
“No, no,” Charlie cut him off, “I mean how does music help you personally. Not in any experiments or with science involved.”

  
“Oh, well why didn’t clarified that earlier then,” said Baxter.

  
“I did,” she told him but she was ignored.

  
“Fine if I must talk about me then very well,” Baxter ignored Charlie.

  
“But-“

  
“Just let it go, kid,” Husk told her from the side, “It’s a losing battle.”

  
“I have dabbled in music a little bit in my younger years,” Baxter began to brag. If he was telling the truth no one was sure, “Mother always had me learn a new instrument, helps me to build character and become well round, or something like that.”

  
“That’s nice, Baxter. You must-“

  
“Of course there were times that my music instructors were infuriating,” Baxter ran over Charlie, as if she never spoke, “Professionals my ass. Those bastards don’t know the difference between a vocal tone of F3 to D6, bloody morons. I basically had to teach myself how to play the bloody piano since my instructor was completely incompetent.”

  
Angel and Vaggie perked up.

  
“And I let me tell you about my violin instructor-“

  
“You know how to play the piano?” Vaggie asked suddenly, cutting off Baxter’s rant.

  
Baxter look irritated for being interrupted but answered Vaggie, “Of course! What do you think I’m talking about here, the weather?”

  
Vaggie fought the urge to snap at Baxter for his attitude; she needed to play nice right now, for Angel’s sake.

  
“How about you play something for us?” Vaggie requested.

  
“That’s a great idea, Vaggie!” Charlie agreed, “How about it, Baxter?”

  
“Oh, I always like a little ragtime piano,” said Mimzy.

  
Everyone looked to Baxter, who was now on the spot, and looked a little flustered.

  
He coughed, trying to hide the small blush on his blue face, “I can’t, how do you expect me to play when there is no piano here.”

  
“I can fix that!” Alastor declared.

  
With a snap of Alastor’s fingers, a grand piano appeared in the conference room.

  
“Oh,” Baxter stared at the grand piano, “Well, there we are.”

  
“Please play something for us, Baxter,” said Charlie.

  
Baxter looked to everyone, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. It was easy to brag about something that you are good at but for you to prove it was another thing.

  
“Well,” he hesitated, “I suppose I could play something. Just to show how I mastered it all on my own of course.”

  
“Just play something, Shorty,” called Husk, looking bored.

  
Baxter shot a glare over to Husk but rose from his chair and marched over to the grand piano. 

  
The piano was beautiful and in excellent condition, slightly remaining Baxter of the one he grew up with when he was a child. Taking a seat on the bench Baxter took a moment to run his fingers over the keys, getting a familiar feel for the instrument since it’s been a long time since he’s last played the piano.

  
Looking up, everyone’s attention was on Baxter, waiting for him to play.

  
He glared at them, “It’s been a while since I last played, don’t judging the first few notes for greatness just yet.”

  
“We won’t,” promised Charlie.

  
Baxter scoffed but said nothing after that, turning his attention back to the piano. There was no sheet music for him to work with but that’s fine. There are a few songs that he still remembered by heart during his days among the living.

  
Slowly, he started to play, the notes were a little hesitating and he kept missing a key or two. But after a minute or so it started to come back to him as the notes were easier to play now as the familiar melody washed over him.

  
In no time Baxter was lost in the music as he played the song flawless. It was an old song, a favorite of his when he was still alive and young, a song that he was always fawn of.

  
Everyone in the room was quite impressed by Baxter, not expecting their little mad scientist to be so musical.

  
Angel and Vaggie were the most in impress as they listened to Baxter play. He may have had a rocky start at first but he really picked it up quickly. The two exchanged a look, smiling at the fact that they had found their pianist.

  
Suddenly Niffty was up and out of her seat, dancing beside the grand piano.

  
Charlie rose from her chair, grabbed Vaggie’s hands, and pulled her out of her seat before she even knew what was happening, while Charlie led them over to where Niffty was dancing.

  
Angel cracked a smile as he watched Vaggie awkwardly dance with Charlie, clearly showing she wasn’t one for dancing like Charlie was. The next one to join, surprising Angel, was Crymini as she inched her way to the edge of group and started tapping her foot to the music.

  
“Oh!” Mimzy’s voice could be heard beside Angel, almost forgetting she was here as he watched her jump out of her chair and turn to Alastor, “Come on, Al. Let’s show these kids how it’s done.”

  
Before Alastor had the chance to answer her request Mimzy grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the floor. Angel clearly saw that he tensed up at the sudden touch, knowing that the demon didn’t like to be touch by others, and thought that Alastor would snap at her for it but didn’t. Instead, Alastor just let Mimzy bring him over to the others and started dancing.

  
Angel, as well as Husk, who was nursing his bottle, was the only ones on the sidelines watching everyone dance away as Baxter started to get a little bold in his music. Angel was quietly seething on the inside as he watched Alastor and Mimzy dance together, begrudgingly admitting that they were both pretty good. Watching them together made his chest hurt so much that he almost couldn’t stay in the same room with them. But he had to stay. If he suddenly got up and left Charlie would come looking for him and ask why he left so suddenly and he didn’t want to come up with an excuse to why he left. And then Alastor would probably see through his lie and he just didn’t want to face Alastor. So his best option for now was just to try not to look at them and focus on something else. 

  
But that was harder than Angel thought as his eyes always kept wondering over to the pair.

  
That was until someone blocked his view, standing in front of Angel.

  
Angel looked up to see that it was Villa, smiling at him, offering him her hand as she silently asked him to dance with her. Angel looked to Villa’s face and then back to the offered hand. As much as a weirdo Villa can be she wasn’t too bad, and was offering him a chance to take his mind off of Alastor and Mimzy together.

  
He sighed but smiled as he took her hand and stood up, “Lead the way, toots,” he told her.

  
Villa pulled Angel over to the others, but keeping away from group, and made sure that Angel’s back was facing them. Angel wondered if Villa knew what going on in his head for she seems to be making sure that he didn’t see Alastor and Mimzy at all and made him focus on her. In a way he was grateful that she was making him focus on her and only her, as well as the music.

  
Once they started dancing Angel began to forgot his problems, his worries, lost in the music and the dance with Villa. It was nice and he actually felt pretty happy again. They continued on like this for a while. Baxter playing a few songs as everyone was having fun. Charlie tried to combine the fun they were having with their session but had little success in doing so. But judging by the large smile on her face she didn’t seem too bothered by it, just happy to see that everyone was having fun in a healthy environment, the whole goal of this session.

  
Charlie decided to finally cut the session short when Baxter finished playing the last song, figuring this would be a good time to end on a good note.

  
“That was great everyone!” Charlie cheered, “I hope everyone had fun.”

  
“It wasn’t so bad,” Crymini mumbled.

  
“And Baxter,” Charlie turned to him, “That was amazing! I didn’t know you were so talented!”

  
Hearing the praise, Baxter puffed up in pride, “Of course I am.”

  
“Yeah,” Vaggie agreed, “Not half bad,” wheels were already turning in her head.

  
“I do think today went well, hon,” Mimzy told Charlie, “But from all that dancing now I’m feeling famish.”

  
At that, Charlie’s stomach began to grumble, causing her to blush.

  
Angel chuckled lightly at hearing how loud Charlie’s stomach was, “I think tonight calls for some of my ma’s famous lasagna tonight, with homemade bread and salad.”

  
“That sounds great, Angel! I love your mom’s lasagna!” said Charlie.

  
“Well, duh who wouldn’t,” was his reply.

  
Charlie turned to Mimzy, “Do you want to stay for dinner, Mimzy?”

  
Hearing that, what little good mood that Angel had left dropped a notch.

  
“Charlie, I’m sure Mimzy has places to be and we don’t want to hold her up anymore already,” Vaggie told Charlie. Lucifer, she loves this girl but was completely oblivious to Angel’s feelings of Mimzy being here.

  
“Actually, dinner sounds lovely,” said Mimzy.

  
“Yay!” Niffty cheered.

  
“Yeah, yay,” Angel’s expression dropped, “I guess I have more mouths to feed,” he started to make his way out of the room.

  
“Do you want help, Angel?” Niffty offered.

  
“Nah,” he waved her from behind, “I’m good Niff.”

  
“Okay!” she answered before zipping back to Mimzy and Charlie’s side.

  
Vaggie watch Angel leave the room, feeling guilty that she couldn’t fix this for him, before Charlie turned to her and said something to Vaggie.

  
Angel made his way to the kitchen, which wasn’t far from the conference room, flicking the lights on as he entered. The kitchen was spotless, perfectly organized to the point that it looked like it’s never been used. Niffty sure had a gift to make everything she touches spotless. Something that Angel can appreciate, considering he’s a bit of a slob himself. His room was a messy organization where things had a place in a messy way. 

  
He got to work right away, starting with the sauce, which needs to sit and simmer to let the herbs properly soak in the sauce. Leaving the sauce pot on a low setting Angel started to prepare the meat, a nice mixer of some hamburger and sausage, but mostly sausage. With the meat prepared, the lasagna noodles on standby, sauce still simmering, Angel decided to get the bread ready.

  
Cooking is always a good way to help him feel better when he was having a shitty day, a good way to keep his mind busy as he worked with his hands, trying to recall his mother’s old recipes. When he started cooking again, after so long, he had difficulty of recalling them, almost afraid that he forgot everything his mother taught him. But after a lot of trial and error they started to come back to him as he began to remember little things that his mother said when they cooked together. One of the recipes he was grateful to remember was his mother’s famous lasagna, her pride and joy for it was a family recipe that dated all the way back in the seventy hundreds when his family was still in Naples.

  
Being in the kitchen made him happy, in fact when he started to feel a craving he focused his energy into cooking instead. Not that he would ever let Charlie know that. Sweet girl with a good heart but she would probably ruin this for him by going overboard. 

  
“Something smells wonderful in here.”

  
Angel kneads the dough a little too hard, startled, as he looked up to see Alastor standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

  
“Geez Smiles, why do always have to do that,” Angel lightly scolded.

  
“And what’s that?” Alastor walked in.

  
Angel gave him a look, “You know very well, being creepy and sneaking up on people.”

  
Alastor only lightly chuckled as he strolled up to the sauce pot. He took the wooden spoon, sitting beside the pot, giving it a few stirs before he brought the spoon to his lips. Before the spoon touched his lips Angel swatter it away from him, earning a glare from Alastor. Angel simply rolled his eyes and grabbed a spoon from the drawer and handed it to Alastor. His glare immediately lightened as he looked to the offered spoon and took it from Angel. Angel put the wooden spoon back, watching from the corner of his eye as Alastor tried his sauce. They’ve always tried each other’s food before, while preparing it, nothing new really, but it always makes Angel a little nervous to know what Alastor would think of his food.

  
Alastor hummed in pleasure, “Quite delicious, my dear,” he told Angel, placing the spoon in the sink.

  
Angel couldn’t help but smile in pride at the comment.

  
“Ma’s signature sauce,” said Angel.

  
“As well as her famous lasagna?” asked Alastor.

  
“Of course,” Angel answered, returning back to kneading the dough.

  
“Indeed, it’s quite excellent,” comment Alastor.

  
“Are you just here to taste tests the food? I thought you would be with the rest of the gang,” _‘Be with Mimzy’_ he wanted to say aloud.

  
“I thought I come and offer my services,” said Alastor, already taking his coat off and rolling up his sleeves.

  
“You want to help?” Angel asked in surprise.

  
“Is that a problem?”

  
“No! Of course not,” said Angel, “I just wasn’t expecting you to want to cook with me, I thought you would be hanging out with Mimzy instead.”

  
“True I don’t mind spending time with Mimzy but unfortunately when she and Niffty start talking it’s… how should I say it.

Uncomfortable to be around, if you are a man,” he explained.

  
“Ahh, I get what you mean, say no more,” said Angel.

  
“What would you like me to do?”

  
“If you want you can finish kneading this dough for me. I think the sauce is about ready now.”

  
“Very well.”

  
Angel let Alastor take over the dough as he went to check on the sauce. Like Alastor said it was delicious and ready for the lasagna now. Pulling out the large casserole dish, Angel began putting the lasagna together, layering it just as his mother showed him.

  
“You seemed to be a little up tight earlier in the session,” Alastor suddenly said.

  
Angel would like to say he was proud of himself for not giving himself away, showing that he wasn’t caught off guard by Alastor’s question, but he froze for a second, scolding himself for it for he was sure Alastor noticed it. He needed to play this off like it was no big deal. Make sure that Alastor didn’t notice what he was truly thinking.

  
“Got into a little fight with Cherri, the bitch just pissed me off is all, it’ll blow over,” lied Angel.

  
“Must be some fight if you been like this for the last few days.”

  
 _‘Shit!’_ He really did notice that?

  
“Like I said, it’s nothing,” Angel blew it off, halfway through filling up the casserole dish, “If you are done with the bread, can you please get the cheese from the frig?”

  
“Of course, I just need to cover the bowl with dough in it first,” answered Alastor.

  
With the bread finished and left to rise, Alastor fetched the cheese.

  
“Do you wish to talk about it?” Alastor offered, handing Angel the cheese.

  
“Since when do you care about the residents here?” Angel took the cheese, quickly sprinkling between the layers until it was ready to go into the oven.

  
Alastor laughed, “You got me there my effeminate fellow. But you, I do make an exception.”

  
Angel almost dropped the casserole dish when he put it in the oven. Thankful that it landed on the rack instead of the ground, he just hoped that Alastor didn’t notice his little stumble either.

  
He closed the door with his foot and turned to Alastor with a flirtatious smile, “Ah, Al. I didn’t know you felt that way about me,” he really wished Alastor did.

  
Alastor turned a little red, as expected, “Not like that, my dear. I merely care for you as one of the few entertainments here that I enjoy the most.”

  
It was a reply that Angel always hears from Alastor, not surprise at all by it, but still he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by it this time.

  
Angel bared a smile, “Whatever you say Smiles.”

* * *

  
“You sure about this, toots?” Angel followed Vaggie down the hall of the fifth level.

“Do you have any other ideas? Because I would love to hear them,” said Vaggie.

  
“But what makes you think he will agree to help?”

  
“Just let me worry about that.”

  
“You’re going to bribe the little gremlin then?” Angel smirked.

  
“Don’t say it like that! Do you want me to do this for you or not?” Vaggie hissed, irritated.

  
“Sorry,” said Angel, “But serious. Do you think he will?”

  
Vaggie sighed, stopping for a moment to look at Angel, “Baxter is our best shot right now. He’s exactly what we need, and I know he will keep his mouth shut. We’re not going to find anyone in the short of amount of time we have.”

  
“I know that, I’m just,” Angel hesitated, “I just didn’t really want to let everyone else know what I’m up to.”

  
“Angel.”

  
“I know this may sound silly, and everything,” he mumbled.

  
“You don’t need to be embarrassed, Angel,” said Vaggie, seeing where this was going, “It doesn’t hurt to get help from others around you that care about you.”

  
“And you think Baxter will care?” Ange asked.

  
“Like I said, let me deal with him. And if he doesn’t, I do. You are my friend and I want to see you happy. So I will do what I can to see that you get your happy ending. Or the closest one here in Hell,” said Vaggie.

  
Angel didn’t seem so sure but nodded.

  
“It’ll be okay, trust me,” she reassured him, continuing on.

  
Baxter’s room was only two doors down from where they stopped. He was the only one on this floor and preferred to be as far away from everyone as he could, claiming that he didn’t want to have the damn elevator noise keeping him up all night while he tries to sleep.

  
Vaggie knocked on the door, waiting while Angel silently stood behind Vaggie, biting his lip nervously.

  
It only took a few seconds before Baxter opened the door, looking grumpy as he glared up at Vaggie, “May I ask why you have come to harass me? I came to the sessions as requested, and in return I requested not to be disturbed.”

  
Vaggie rolled her eyes, “One, that is not how it works here, nor was the agreement of any kind from me or Charlie, and two we are here because we need your help.”

  
Baxter raised a blue brow, “Why do you need my help?”

  
“Because you know how to play the damn piano, that’s why,” said Vaggie.

  
Baxter still didn’t follow.

  
Vaggie let out a large sigh, pitching her brows, “Here’s the thing. Angel has a very important gig at the Fire Fox Club, which is less than a week now. They have a band to play for us and I’m playing the guitar, but they don’t have a pianist and told us to find one ourselves in case they can’t find one in time. And considering this is Hell it’s very difficult to find someone that is trained to play the piano. So we need your help in this.”

  
“Well, I can see why you would ask me, I mean who else would be better than me,” Baxter bragged, “But why not asked the princess first? Surely she’s quite musically talented herself that I’m sure she knows how to play the piano.”

  
“That’s the other thing,” Vaggie glanced back at Angel, who has remained quiet the whole time, “Angel doesn’t want anyone to know about this, until the show. I wasn’t even supposed to know myself but he needed help.”

  
“Why though, it seems quite a childish reason?”

  
“It just is,” Angel hissed, not liking the childish comment. He had his reasons, damn it!

  
“Please, Baxter. We really need your help on this,” asked Vaggie.

  
Baxter’s gazed shifted back and forth between Vaggie and Angel, analyzing his situation.

  
“If I do this, what do I get in return?” he asked.

  
“I figured you would ask that,” said Vaggie, “So I am prepared to make proposition for you.”

  
“And that is?”

  
“If you agree to help us with Angel’s big performance, and keep this completely under your hat, I will talk to Charlie about you having your own private laboratory here at the hotel,” she offered.

  
Hearing her offer, Baxter’s eyes widen as a large smile began growing on his face.

  
“My very own laboratory?” he said it mostly to himself then to Vaggie.

  
Vaggie nodded, “That’s right. You will have it here in the hotel. Most likely in the basement though.”

  
But Baxter ignored her as he began envisioning his own lab and what it would be like and where everything will go.

  
“So, do we have deal?” asked Vaggie.

  
Baxter came out of his day dream, looking up at Vaggie with a sober expression, “I would need time to consider your offer, as well-“

  
“You have the next two minutes to decide before the deal expiries,” Vaggie firmly stated.

  
He glared at her, “Fine, I will accept your offer and play for your silly little show.”

  
Vaggie smirk, “Good, rehearsal is tomorrow at seven o’clock in the cocktail room.”

  
“And I’m just supposed to go in blind with this?” asked Baxter.

  
“Of course not,” Vaggie turned to Angel, who handed her some sheet music, and then turned and handed it over to Baxter, “Here is the song we are preforming. Memorize it the best you can,” said Vaggie.

  
Baxter scuffed, “Please, who do you think you are talking to?”

  
Vaggie rolled her eyes, “Just don’t be late.”

  
Baxter glared at her before he slammed the door shut.

  
Angel sighed in relief just as Vaggie turned to face him with a big smile.

  
“That went better than I expected,” she said.

  
“Thank Lucifer that the little shit agreed to this,” said Angel.

  
The two started to make their way back to the elevator.

  
“But I am surprised that he agreed so easily to it,” Angel commented.

  
“I’m not,” said Vaggie, “People like Baxter are easy to figure out.”

  
“How so?”

  
“Simple,” Vaggie pressed the elevator button, “you just have to bribe them with something that they want most, knowing that they can’t refuse to turn it down.”

  
Angel snorted, “I could have figured that on my own.”

  
The elevator doors open, “Hey, you asked,” Vaggie stepped inside, Angel following behind.

  
“Hopefully we can pull this off with him,” said Angel.

  
Vaggie press the button to the lobby, “Baxter may be a gremlin, and a little insufferable at times, but he is a perfectionist and that’s what we’ve got going for us. He’ll make sure everything will go flawlessly on his part, so we don’t have to worry about that. We just need to worry that we nail this thing just as perfect.”

  
“I guess,” he sighed.

  
The elevator dinged, doors opening to reveal the lobby.

  
“Don’t wait up for me,” Angel said as he immediately started to head for the front doors.

“Whoa! Where are you going?” Vaggie demanded.

  
Angel rolled his eyes but stopped and faced Vaggie, “To get a new dress, of course. You heard what Evelyn said, she expects us to dress the part. And the part she wants from me sadly doesn’t exist in my closet right now. So I have some dress shopping to do.”

  
“Fine, just be back by curfew,” she said.

  
He fingered gunned her, “You got it, toots.”

  
She scowled at the comment but said nothing as she made her way to her office.

  
Angel walked out the doors, pulling his phone out as he did a quick search of where he can find a dress. Normally he knows all the best clothing stores here in Hell, but a lot of them were not what Evelyn would approve of. Trying to find something classy, but good quality, wasn’t easy. 

  
Scrolling through his phone, a familiar emporium popped up on the list. Opening up their profile, he read through it to see if they had what he was looking for.

  
Angel hailed a cab, someone other than Travis, and gave the cabbie the address.

* * *

Angel looked up to the shop in front of him, noting that the sign that once said ‘Franklin and Rosie’s Emporiums’ now says ‘Rosie’s Emporiums’. He’s visited this place only a handful of times but he’s usually accompanied by the others. This is the first time that he’s visiting this place by himself, feeling a little nervous as he stepped inside.

  
The place reminded him a lot like some of the emporiums he grew up with when he was a kid, only perhaps a little more old fashion, which he liked. The place had everything that an emporium should have, as well as a few things that Angel was surprise to see.

  
A noise in the corner of the shop got his attention, looking up to see something scurrying from the shadows. Angel froze when he saw not one, or two, or three, but four pair of glowing eyes staring at him from the shadows.

  
Rosie’s minions.

  
Slowly, Angel began to back away, which only seem to make them come closer to him, that-

  
“Welcome!”

  
Suddenly they were gone, disappearing into the shadows.

  
Rosie appeared from the back, dressed in a nice afternoon gown.

  
“Oh!” Rosie’s smile grew, seeing Angel standing in her shop, “My what a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Angel. Is Alastor with you?” she looked for him.

  
“Well, no actually,” Angel said nervously, “It’s just me.”

  
She’s smile never flatter, a weird trait that she and Alastor shared in Angel’s opinion.

  
“What can I do for you then,” she asked.

  
He fidgeted, a little nervous, while trying to put on a brave front, “I’m actually here looking for a dress. I was hoping maybe you could help me.”

  
Hearing that, Rosie’s face instantly lightens up.

  
“We have some of finest dress here in Hell! All of different eras as well and the prices that you could die for!” she laughed at her own joke, “But I have to warn you that we don’t carry the clothes that you usually shop for, they are more on the classier side.”

  
“Great, that’s what I was hoping for,” said Angel.

  
Rosie continued to smile, gesture Angel to follow her as she led him to the back of her shop. Angel quickly picked up his pace and stayed close to her when he passed a shadow that literally hissed at him.

  
In the back they came to the clothing area with quite a few racks of both men and women’s clothing, all of different eras like Rosie said. There was even a corner curtain dressing room with a small mirror inside, which Angel was disappointed to see that it was small until he noticed a much larger mirror between the racks, with a mount in front of it.

  
“Here we are!” said Rosie, “Please help yourself and call me for any assistants.”

  
“Thanks,” he turned to tell her but found that she was already gone, leaving Angel all alone.

  
 _‘It must be an Overlord thing,’_ he thought before moving to the racks and started looking for what he needed.

  
Forty minutes later, he searched through all the racks, debating back and forth of what he thought were close to the 1920s era, or what Evelyn would approve of. With his arms filled with dresses he moved to the makeshift dressing room and began trying the dresses on. 

  
Some of the dresses he found were nice, but didn’t quite fit him how wanted it to fit his body, then there were others that did fit him right but made him question if it was really appropriate to wear when he performed. After going through all of them, even going as far as trying them all on twice, he found two that not only fit him but would be appropriate for his performance. The first one was a flapper emerald green dress that perfectly shaped his chest fluff and the helm of skirt showed a good amount of his legs. The next one caught his eye right away, a pink dress with a strapless top and a long skirt with a long slit that reached all the way to his hip. It greatly reminded him of a pink version of Jessica Rabbit’s dress, overall, two great dresses that fit him great, and would surely knock the crowd out.

  
But would Alastor like them?

  
That’s where Angel started to question it. He liked both of the dresses, they were very nice. But there were some things about them he wasn’t so sure. The flapper dress was cute but he couldn’t help but be reminded of Mimzy in her own flapper dress, something that left a nasty taste in his mouth. The other showed his body off perfectly but it also kind of reminded him some of his drag clothes he owns, a little trashy and made men turn their heads at the sight of him.

  
They weren’t something that would gain Alastor’s attention.

  
“How are we doing back here?” Rosie asked, suddenly appearing behind Angel as he was looking at himself in the large mirror.  
Angel jumped in surprise, nearly having a heart attack as he whipped around to face a smiling Rosie.

  
“Don’t startle me like that,” he gasped, hand placed over his chest fluff.

  
Rosie’s smile grew as she looked at the pink dress that Angel was wearing. She placed a hand to her chin as she began circling around Angel. Not sure what was happening Angel remain completely still as he watched Rosie circle him.

  
After circling him twice, she stopped in front of Angel still smiling, “That dress looks lovely on you,” she said.

  
“Oh, um… Thanks,” Angel looked down at the dress, “It’s… okay.”

  
Rosie’s smile shrinks a little, “Is something the matter with it.”

  
“Well,” Angel hesitated, slowing turned back to the mirror to look at himself again, “I mean it’s a really nice dress. Really it is, and I would so get this under different circumstances.”

  
“It’s not what you are looking for today?” she asked.

  
He shook his head.

  
“Then tell me what you are looking for,” she asked, glancing over to the green flapper dress left on the chair.

  
“That’s the thing. I kind of don’t know,” he confessed, “I need something classy, and in a certain time set, but all the clothes I’ve found like it for me. It’s difficult to explain.”

  
“Then why don’t you try to explain it to me?”

  
He hesitated, wondering how to explain everything to Rosie without telling her everything. He really didn’t need more people knowing what he was up to. It was supposed to be secret deal between him and Evelyn. 

  
“I have this big thing coming up and I need a special gown that fits all the requirements that is needed,” he told her.

  
“Which so happens to be in a certain time period?” questioned Rosie, “Perhaps something in the 1920s?”

  
“… Maybe.”

  
“Well,” Rosie moved over to the chair and picked up the flapper dress, “From what I can see you are having a hard time picking between this one and the one you have on, but are not pleased with either of them?”

  
“Yes, no, maybe. I don’t know,” he sighed, feeling frustrated, “Look they are both great but they just… just…”

  
“Not what you want.”

  
Angel nodded.

  
“If that’s the case, perhaps we should take a different approach for this,” said Rosie.

  
“Like what?”

  
“Simple,” she hanged the dress back up, “You start from scratch and have your own made.”

  
“Get one made?” he looked at her like she was nuts, which she probably was, “And where would I get something like that here. In case you have forgotten this is Hell.”

  
She laughed, “Oh I haven’t forgotten, sweetie. And where to get a dress made is simply right here.”

  
“You mean you have a seamstress on hand?” he asked.

  
Rosie laughed once more, “I am the seamstress, silly. In fact, most of the clothes you see here I made myself. Even the one you have on.”

  
“You made this?” Angel stared down in awe at the dress he was wearing.

  
“Yes, even this one,” she pulled the flapper dress out a bit off the rack.

  
Angel wasn’t sure if he should be surprised by this or not. After all Rosie’s website said you can find one of kind clothes here that you won’t be able to find anywhere else in Hell. And they were some really nice quality stuff. For the fabric was nice and comfortable.

  
“So you do custom dress orders then?” he asked.

  
Rosie’s smile grew, “Of course! But I do have standards of what I make. I only design classy dresses and nothing trashy."

  
“Then can I get one?”

  
“Of course! Let me fetch my tape measure. I’ll be back in a jiff,” said Rosie.

  
“Okay,” he said but she was gone already.

  
Angel moved back into the dressing rooming, taking the dress off, and walked back out in just his mini skirt, seeing Rosie waiting for him.

  
“Please stand on the mount,” she instructed.

  
Angel did as he was instructed.

  
“Lift your arms up and straight out.”

  
He did so.

  
Rosie came up to Angel’s side, starting with his arms, next his back shoulder blades, and then his chest. After every measurement Rosie would pull out a little notepad and wrote down Angel’s measurements.

  
“What are you looking for?”

  
“Huh?” Angel responds.

  
“The dress,” said Rosie, “I know that you are aiming for something in the 1920s and from what you told me, on the classier side. But you haven’t exactly told me what it’s for.”

  
“It’s,” he hesitated, “for a show.”

  
“I see,” she measured his hips, “A little unusual for Valentino’s taste for his employees to wear.”

  
“It’s not a show put on by Valentino,” he confessed.

  
“Oh?” she looked up to him.

  
“It’s kind of a private manner that I’m doing.”

  
“A request that someone wants you to wear?”

  
“Kind of,” he said.

  
“You are an escort, so it’s-“

  
“It’s not for that,” he said.

  
Rosie continued to smile, eyeing Angel, as if she knew something.

  
He noted that’s another thing that she and Alastor shared.

  
Begrudging he had to admit that Alastor and Rosie were perfect for each other, way more perfect then with Mimzy. After spending a short amount of time with Mimzy, Angel can tell that the gal was a little on the ditz side, if not a tiny bit naïve. But Rosie was a whole different story. Where Mimzy was ditzy and naive, Rosie was smart and clever. She knew how to play games and go toe to toe with other Overlords with a full hand of cards she kept close, never showing what she was thinking. In a way she defiantly reminded Angel of an evil version of Mary Poppins.

  
The few times that Angel wittiness Alastor and Rosie together, he can see that they instantly clicked, that they both complement each other so well that it hurt his chest just watching. If it wasn’t Mimzy he had worry about, it would be Rosie. Two women in Alastor’s life that have already proven that they are so much better than a simple low level, prostitute, gutter demon like him.

  
“None of that now,” Rosie sang, her fingers came to the corner of Angel’s mouth and forced him to smile, “We only smile here.”

  
“Sorry,” he apologized. 

  
“Why don’t you tell Auntie Rosie what’s the matter,” she said.

  
“What makes you think something is the matter?” he grumbled. 

  
Her smile grew, “You may say there is nothing wrong but I can see in your eyes that there is. Now why don’t you tell me what is really going on.”

  
Damn, they really are so much alike.

  
Angel sighed in defeat, “Fine, but you can’t say anything to anybody.”

  
“My lips are sealed,” said Rosie.

  
He glared her down, not sure if he should believe her or not. But among the many things that she and Alastor share, he hopes one of them is keeping secrets.

  
“I have this big musical performance at The Fire Fox Club less than a week from now and I need to find the perfect dress that’s both classy and fits the theme of the place. But I want to wear something special; you know kind of something that makes me stand out.”

  
“Ah, I see. So you manage to convince Evelyn to performer at her club,” said Rosie, “You must have made a good impression. She’s very picky of who performers there.”

  
“You know Evelyn?”

  
“Of course! We had a lovely tea the other day at this nice restaurant,” she giggled, “In fact she did mention something that she did get a new act for one night at the club. She didn’t drop names but I can only assume that she must have been speaking about you.”

  
“What did she say?” he couldn’t help but ask, wondering what Evelyn thought of him.

  
“Nothing bad,” she kneeled down to measure Angel’s legs, “In fact she sounded like she was looking forward to it. She even was telling me how mad Mimzy was when she told her she couldn’t perform on one of their busiest nights.”

  
Angel could help but smile, feeling smug as he could picture Mimzy getting all huffy at the news, but couldn’t do anything about it against Evelyn.

  
His smile suddenly dropped when he realized what Rosie said, “Wait. What do you mean on one of their busiest nights?”

  
Rosie looked up at Angel, actually looking a little surprise at Angel’s question, “You mean that you didn’t know?”

  
“Know what?”

  
Suddenly Rosie burst into laughter, “Of course she wouldn’t tell you! Evelyn always likes to spring things on people like this at the last second. She likes to see them either squirm or have a mental breakdown!”

  
“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better,” he growled.

  
Rosie’s laugher downgraded to a chuckle, “Oh you should feel honor she’s allowing you to perform on one of her busiest nights. She must think you are pretty good if she is giving you that big of an honor.”

  
“Yeah, big honor,” he crossed both sets of his arms.

  
Rosie rose back up to her feet, jotting down the final measurements.

  
“But that still don’t answer my question. Why are you doing it?” she asked.

  
“That I rather keep to myself,” he told her.

  
“Fair enough,” she said, “I’ve got enough information that I need. And luckily for you, I do know what Evelyn would approve of so I can guarantee that you will look spectacular up on that stage.”

  
“I’ll hold you to it,” he cracked a smile.

  
“I will ask though if you have a preference of color.”

  
Angel thought for a moment, glancing at the pink and green dresses, remembering that he wasn’t pleased with either color, even though the dresses themselves were nice. He needed a color that was eye catching, something that everyone will notice, something like-

  
“Red,” he answered, “I want a crimson red dress.”

  
“Alright,” she wrote it down on notepad, “Once you finish getting dress, come up front and I will ring you up,” she told him, leaving as she headed up front.

  
Angel nodded in response, moving to the dressing room where his jacket, gloves, boots, and bowtie awaited for him. Once he was fully dressed, checking himself over in the mirror for minute, Angel headed up front to find Rosie at the register, calculating his dress most likely. This time around he didn’t see any of the shadows moving, or hissing at him as he moved towards Rosie, relieved that he didn’t have to worry about his ankles being chewed off.

  
“Alright, what’s the damage toots?” he asked her once he reached the counter.

  
Rosie finished her calculations, writing the price down, and pushed it towards Angel to see.

  
Looking at the total cost, he winced a little, letting out a low whistle.

  
“My designs are high quality,” said Rosie.

  
“How soon can I have it ready?” he asked.

  
“Well, from what Evelyn told when your big night is, and a few orders I already have to have completed before yours, I would say,” she paused for a moment, “I can have it ready the day of.”

  
“The day of!” exclaimed Angel.

  
She gave him an annoyed look, not appreciating the tone.

  
Realizing his rude outburst, Angel coughed into his fist and stood up straight, “Sorry.”

  
“I know it’s cutting close to when you need it but I can promise it will be ready by then. I can even bring it to the club that night if you wish,” said Rosie.

  
“How much would that cost?” he eyed her.

  
“Call it on the house. If you allow me to see your show, I’m quite curious,” she said.

  
“Doesn’t matter what I say, you’ll come whether I tell you are not, I bet,” he stated.

  
She laughed, “Perhaps.”

  
“Fine, you can come,” Angel said before he hesitated for a second, “Just don’t tell anyone. And I mean anyone, including Alastor.”

  
“You know he will figure it out anyways, he’s-“

  
“Please, Rosie. Just don’t tell him, okay,” Angel begged her.

  
Rosie blinked in surprise, not expecting him to get so upset. 

  
She then stared at Angel hard, searching his face when it really felt like she’s really searching his soul, even going as far as leaning over the counter to stare him in the eye, making him really nervous. After a minute Rosie pulled back from him, smiling at Angel.

  
“I think I understand now,” she stated.

  
“Huh?”

  
“Nothing sweetie, as I said, I will have the dress finished and brought to you to the club. Delivery charges are free. Sound good,” she told him.

  
“Uh, sure I suppose,” said Angel.

  
“Wonderful, will you be paying with cash or credit?”

* * *

Angel stepped out of Rosie’s shop, receipt stuffed in his pocket, pulling his phone out as he started heading back to the hotel.  
There was a couple of messages he missed while dress shopping. Most of them were of his clients, whom he’s been ignoring for some time now, one from Cherri, a few from Charlie, and one from Vaggie. 

  
He opened Cherri’s message first, she was asking if he wanted to go clubbing tomorrow. He quickly shot off a reply to her, telling her he wasn’t available this week but perhaps next week. He didn’t tell her he was rehearsing for the club.

  
Another new message popped up on his phone, another one of his Johns, ignoring it as he decided to read Vaggie’s message next. 

  
_**-Hey, I know you’re dress shopping but Charlie is worried about you. She wanted to talk to you about your next session but couldn’t find you. I didn’t tell her where you went.-** _

  
Angel went back and opened all of Charlie’s messages to see that Charlie was looking for him and asking where he was or if he was okay. He shot a quick simple reply, letting her know he was fine, and then switched back to Vaggie.

  
**-I messaged her that I was fine and heading home now.-**

  
He saw three little dots at the bottom, Vaggie was replying to him.

  
Her message popped up.

  
_**-Yeah, she just told me you replied.-** _

  
_**-Did you find a dress?-** _

  
He typed back.

  
**-Yeah, I’m getting a custom made one which should be ready by then. It’s going to be delivered that night at the club.-**

  
_**-That night? That’s kind of cutting it close.-** _

  
**-That’s what I said but what are going to do?-**

  
_**-Well at least you found something so that matters I suppose-** _

  
_**-I’ll see you when you get back-** _

  
**-Later toots-**

  
Vaggie send him an emoji giving him the finger, making him smirk. 

  
In return he sent her an emoji blowing a kiss.

  
Looking up from his phone Angel came to a corner of a street, getting ready to cross it when an all too familiar limo pulled to a stop in front him, making his stomach drop as the door open. Inside, a pair of heart shape glasses glowed in the darkness.

  
“Angel baby, get in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incase you guys didn't know, Villa is actually one of Vivi's characters for the show. But it's unknown if Villa will appear in it or not, since Vivi isn't sure anymore.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel dodges Valentino for now, and things are starting to look great for Angel.
> 
> … Until it all comes crashing down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update everyone. 
> 
> If you follow me on Twitter you know what was going on and I want to thank everyone for their kind words.
> 
> And also, Happy Birthday to me! Here is a present for everyone! This chapter.
> 
> Important note at the end of the chapter.

Angel sat across from Valentino in the limo, where his boss smoked a cigar, sitting alone in his limo for once, as the said limo cruised down the streets of the city. It’s been a total of five minutes already when Angel was ordered into the limo, sitting silently as he waited for the impending doom that was to come.

  
In truth he kind of saw this coming. Angel has been blowing off work of late, as well as ignoring his Johns’ calls and messages of recent. And those Johns can only take to being ignored for so long before going to Valentino with complaints of his negligence, possibly threatening to take their business somewhere else. And that is the one thing that Valentino hated most was losing money, and losing money because his biggest cash cow wasn’t doing the work.

  
Angel could only imagine how piss Valentino was at him right now. Afraid to know what kind of punishment the pimp had in store for him and the silence was killing Angel.

  
Valentino finished his cigar, giving one last pump before he grinded it into the ashtray beside him, leaning back against his seat as he stared Angel down.

  
“I’ve been informed by some of your Johs that you have been blowing them off of lately, is that true?” Valentino calmly asked, making Angel freak out at how calm he was being right now.

  
He had to answer this carefully.

  
“Well, you see daddy it’s-“

  
“So you have been ignoring them,” Valentino interrupted, his voice cutting through like a hot blade, “What the fuck have you been doing that’s been so damn important for you to ignore your fucking job!?”

  
He was in deep shit.

  
“I’ve been busy Val,” said Angel.

  
“With what?” Val spat.

  
“Charlie has me doing all this redemption stuff, which is stupid by the way, and she makes it impossible for me to leave the hotel without the toots getting on my case, and where I’m going,” said Angel.

  
“Is that so?” asked Val.

  
“Oh yeah, the crazy chick makes it impossible for me to work. But I promise I will try harder to answer my clients without her knowing,” said Angel.

  
“So you haven’t been having free time to take care of work? Because you’re stuck at that damn hotel?”

  
“Yep.”

  
“I see,” Val leaned back, glaring at Angel, “Then you wouldn’t mind telling me what you were doing at the Fire Fox Club then the other day.”

  
Angel felt his stomach drop.

  
“That fancy joint?” Angel laughed, trying to play it off, “I wish I could get in that place. I mean, do you know how many times I’ve tried to get in to only be kicked to the curb before stepping through the doorway, Val? Way to many times.”

  
Valentino growled, suddenly lunging towards Angel, grabbing him by the neck and dragged him face to face with Valentino   
“Don’t lie to me you little slut!” he yelled, “Velvet told me she saw you coming out of that place during the day, along with one of the princess’s helpers!”

  
Damn it, he was really in deep shit now.

  
“Now tell me,” his grip tightens around Angel’s neck, “What kind business do you have going on with that damn fox?”

  
Angel was having difficulty breathing, trying to get out of Val’s grip.

  
“Answer me!” Val released Angel, throwing him back against his seat.

  
Angel coughed, rubbing his neck.

  
“Well!”

  
There really was no way around this.

  
“O-Okay,” his voice came out raspy, coughing, “I might have made an agreement with Evelyn.”

  
“That you get to perform for free at her place,” said Valentino.

  
“You know about that?”

  
“As soon as Velvet told me I went to the bitch herself. She told me that you both made an agreement that you get to sing at her place for free. Now why would you do that, Angel Cakes?” asked Valentino.

  
There was no way that Angel was going to tell Valentino why. He was the very last person that he wanted to find out about this. If he knew that Angel was doing this in hopes of wooing Alastor in anyway it would not end well for Angel. 

  
Valentino didn’t like Alastor, and the feeling was mutual. Not to mention that Angel knew that Valentino was buddies with Vox, who Alastor detested even more. Angel couldn’t blame Alastor, the guy can really rub you the wrong way and Angel didn’t care much for the TV demon. Over all you got three Overlords that don’t like the other party at all that usually leads to a big bloody fight that Angel really didn’t want to get himself mixed up in.

  
Angel’s best bet was to tell Valentino as much of the truth without giving him the whole truth.

  
“I just want to sing, that’s all,” Angel told him.

  
“Sing?” Valentino questioned.

  
“Yeah, I just want to actually show that I can sing,” it really wasn’t a lie, “Charlie took us to the club a few nights again and I manage to convince Evelyn to give me a gig, that’s all.”

  
Valentino glared at him for a moment, most likely judging if Angel was telling him the truth. Finally Valentino smiled, leaning away from Angel and back in his seat.

  
“Angel Cakes,” Valentino purred, “Why didn’t you tell me. If you want to sing that badly I could have arranged for something at the studio for you if you wanted to sing.”

  
“I didn’t think you would let me,” said Angel, feeling relieved.

  
“Well you aren’t really a singer, Angel,” said Valentino, “Mediocre at best, if you are even that.”

  
Angel felt like he got punch in the stomach, “Y-yeah, I know.”

  
“But if you’re really that determined to sing, if you went to that cheating bitch, then I suppose I can arrange something next time. In fact, I just came up with an idea that will surely be a knock out,” said Valentino.

  
“R-Really?” Angel asked in surprise. He didn’t think Valentino would actually put something together where he can actually sing. In fact Angel was kind of happy about the idea.

  
“Yes, I’ll figure out the details once we get back to the studio,” said Valentino, “But you still didn’t answer my other question. Why have you been ignoring you johns’ calls? Princess or not, I know she can’t control or take your phone”

  
Shit! He was hoping Valentino forgot about that.

  
“I’ve been getting complaints from them that you have been ignoring their texts. Plus, a few have told me they have been left unsatisfied of the ones you do work for. Care to explain that?” 

  
“Are you fucking kidding me! I’ve been taken care of those bastards without a problem! I’ve pretty much done everything they’ve wanted, as long as they paid of course. But I did my job, you have to believe me daddy,” Angel gave Valentino his best big soft eyed look.

  
He hummed, “It wouldn’t be the first time bastards tried to pull a fast one on me… You did everything they asked?”

  
“Of course, daddy.”

  
Valentino growled, but it wasn’t directed to Angel, pulling his phone out, “I’ll have to deal with those bastards later, starting with this one.”

  
“This one?” Angel asked curiously.

  
“You’re John, that’s where we’re heading to right now,” Valentino said, not looking up from his phone, typing away on it.

  
“Right now?” Angel was a little more frantic.

  
Valentino stopped what he was doing, looking up to Angel with narrowed eyes, “Yes, right now.”

  
“I can’t.”

  
“What do you mean you can’t,” Valentino growled.

  
“I have to be back at the hotel, Charlie is expecting me, and I can’t-“

  
“You fucking can, and you fucking will,” Valentino grabbed Angel’s face, squeezing him hard as he brought him close to Valentino’s face again, “Don’t forget I own you, I hold your contract! Not the princess or anyone else!”

  
“I-I know, I’m sorry daddy.”

  
“Do I have to remind you of the details of your contract again,” Valentino said, throwing Angel back into his seat.

  
With a snap of his fingers, a gold floating scroll appeared.

  
Angel Dust’s contract.

  
The very thing that Angel would love nothing more than to rip the thing apart with his very own hands.

  
“Let’s see here,” Valentino grabbed the contract.

  
“Please, daddy,” Angel didn’t want to hear it, “I know what it-“

  
“Says here,” Valentino interrupted Angel as if he never said a word, “that I’m entitled to tell you when, where, and who, no matter the circumstances, that I get to choose who you get to see, speak, and fuck. While you are entitled to… let’s see here, oh! Nothing.”  
Angel shrank into himself.

  
“I own you Angel Cakes. Your soul is mine to do as I please,” Valentino smirked.

  
“Yeah but the final print,” Angel argued weakly.

  
Valentino’s smirk dropped for a moment before it came back, more cruel as before, “Yes, the final print. By Lucifer’s law every contract must have one.”

  
“But it’s there,” said Angel, “I just-“

  
“Yes, yes I know very well,” Valentino interrupted him again, “For you to break free from your contract you must find someone that loves you but does not hold sexual desires for you,” he laughed, “Irony of it is you are Hell’s number one porn star that every demon lusts for! Haha!”

  
Angel flinched at Valentino’s cruel laugher.

  
“If I were you, Angel Cakes, I wouldn’t keep holding on to any hope of that final print. It’s nothing but false hope for you that will never come to be. You know I’m right.”

  
“Yes daddy,” Angel whispered.

  
The limo came to a stop in front of a seedy club.

  
“We’re here,” Valentino stated, opening the door to get out.

  
Silently, Angel followed after him until he was out of the limo.

  
Outside, on the curb, an ugly rat demon stood, cowering in fear of Valentino’s looming form over him while Angel stood in the back, watching silently as his pimp laid down the law to the rat demon. Valentino must have said something truly gruesome to the other demon, judging by how pale and shaken he looked as he quickly handed his money over to Valentino.

  
Taking the money Valentino moved back to Angel, smiling at him, once he finished counting his money.

  
“Be sure to be a good whore for daddy, Angel Cakes, while I clean up the mess that you made,” he told him.

  
Angel frowned but remained silent, watching Valentino crawl into the limo and drove away, leaving Angel behind.

*** * ***

Vaggie’s fingers drummed against the surface of the bar, staring at the clock on the wall before her eyes darted to the door.

  
It’s been almost two hours since Angel’s last text message, telling her he was on his way back to the hotel but there was no sign of him anywhere.

  
She growled to herself.

  
“He’ll show up when he wants to,” Husk said from behind the bar, “He barely follows curfew anyway.”

  
“I know,” she hissed, mostly to herself then Husk, “I just thought this time he would actually follow through this time.”

  
“Tch, what makes you think fruity pants would do so?” he asked.

  
“Just because okay!”

  
“Fine, don’t need to bite my head off;” said Husk, “You want something to drink?”

  
“No.”

  
“I can make a virgin drink if you want,” he offered.

  
Vaggie paused, “Fine. Just surprise me with something sweet.”

  
Husk rolled his eyes, “Shirley Temple it is.”

  
Vaggie checked her phone and then the clock again.

  
“Where the fuck is he!?” she yelled, “I’m going to call him.”

  
“Would he even answer?” Husk passed Vaggie her drink.

  
“He better,” she growled.

  
Her phone kept ringing for a good thirty seconds before it went to voicemail.

  
Vaggie growled.

  
“No luck?” asked Husk.

  
“He’s not answering, why the fuck isn’t he answering!” she yelled.

  
Husk looked up to the front doors, “Why don’t you ask him yourself,” he pointed behind her.

  
Vaggie looked at him, confused, before she turned around.

  
And behold the very thorn in her side came walking in through the front door.

  
Vaggie was out of her seat before she knew it until she was standing in front of Angel.

  
Angel seemed surprise at her sudden appearance as well for he stepped back.

  
“Where have you been!?” she demanded, “You are almost two hours late!”

  
“I just lost track of time, no big deal,” Angel causally said, walking around Vaggie.

  
“It is a big deal!” she chased after him.

  
Angel winked and blew Husk a kiss before he reached the elevator, smirking at the finger Husk was giving him.

  
“Don’t fucking ignore me!” Vaggie shouted beside him.

  
Angel rolled his eyes just as the elevator doors opened, stepping inside.

  
Vaggie quickly followed him in.

  
“Well?” she demanded.

  
Angel press the button to his floor, “Well what?”

  
“Aren’t you going to explain yourself!?” she yelled

  
Angel waited for a moment until the doors closed before looking to Vaggie.

  
“If you must know I had a bit of a run in with Valentino,” he finally told her.

  
Vaggie looked taken back at that.

  
“He wasn’t too happy right now,” Angel confessed, “He knows about my gig at the club.”

  
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Vaggie asked while she checked Angel over.

  
He waved her off, “He got a little rough with me but I’m okay.”

  
“So what happened?” she asked.

  
“Well,” he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, “like I said, he wasn’t too happy about it, which was what I expected really, especially when I’m kind of doing this show for free.”

  
“Is he making you back out?”

  
“Luckily no. There was other stuff that came up that, so he forget about it. But if he wasn’t distracted he probably would have made me cancel.”

  
“Small miracles then.”

  
“And then he personally dropped me off at this seedy club where a client was waiting,” he said.

  
Vaggie made a stink face. 

  
“Hey, I tried to tell Val that you guys were expecting me at the hotel. But he wouldn’t hear it.”

  
“Well, as long as you are okay. You are okay, right?” Vaggie questioned.

  
Was he?

  
Physically he was, but mentally?

  
He didn’t know the answer.

  
He shrugged, “I’m in one piece, aren’t I?”

  
The elevator stopped, coming to Angel’s floor.

  
“You are but you are avoiding the question.”

  
“Fine, I think I’m okay. Happy now?” he asked bitterly, stepping out.

  
“Wait,” she called, stopping the door from closing on her.

  
Angel turned to face her.

  
Vaggie reached into her pocket, grabbing Angel’s hand, and dropping some plastic coins in his palm.

  
Angel’s expression lightens up when he realized what they were.

  
“Are these?” he began to ask.

  
“Normally I won’t give out this many good boy coins for the bar. But I think after tonight you could use a few extras. Just don’t tell Charlie I gave you that many,” said Vaggie, “And when you are ready to tell me EVERYTHING about what happen tonight, I’ll be waiting.”

  
Angel looked to the coins in his hand for a second before he looked up to Vaggie.

  
“Thanks,” he said.

  
Vaggie smiled, pressing the button for the main lobby, “Have a goodnight,” the doors closed.

  
Pocketing the coins Angel headed to his room at the end of the hall, where a pink door sat with his name on it in gold writing.  
Fat Nugget came to greet him when he entered his room, giving off cute little noises as he ran around Angel’s feet, looking for his dinner.

  
Chuckling, Angel bent down and patted his precious baby on the head as he fetched Fat Nugget’s food. While Fat Nugget ate Angel took this time to change into some comfortable clothes and remove his make-up. Once his face was cleaned Angel removed his boots, tossing them carelessly over to his closet before standing up and removing his jacket. 

  
Something fell out of his pocket as he removed his jacket, Fat Nugget noticing the fallen item, waddled over after he finished his dinner, and began to sniff the fallen object.

  
It took Angel a moment to realize that Fat Nugget had something in his mouth, which was a little blue plastic, very familiar, bag.  
Seeing the item Angel immediately paniced and took the bag away from him.

  
“No baby!” Angel gently took it from Fat Nugget’s mouth, “This is not for good little boys. It will make you sick.”

  
Fat Nugget responded with a head title, looking up to Angel.

  
Angel smiled at the cute little confuse look on Fat Nugget’s face, bending down to gentle pet his head.

  
“I don’t need you to fall unconscious on me if there were any leftovers,” said Angel.

  
But of course Fat Nugget didn’t answer him, and just stood up and waddled back to his food bowl to see if he missed any food.

  
Angel sighed, standing up, as he looked at the little blue ziplock bag in his hand with the numbers ‘7732G1’ on it. It looked empty, sure enough, but there may be some powered residue inside it still that Angel didn’t want to chance. Moving to his bathroom Angel opened the cabinet under his sink and threw the bag in the trash bin and shut the door.

* * *

Angel made good use of the extra coins that Vaggie gave him, getting a few of his favorite drinks that usually took forever for him to get. Normally he would like to enjoy a cigarette with his drinks but Charlie forbids smoking in the hotel, which bums him out, but he knew when to choose his battles. He was alone in the lobby, other than Husk, who was eyeing the amount of coins he had with a questionable look but choose to ignore it, not really caring where Angel got so many.

  
“You want anything else, the bar is closing in ten,” asked Husk.

  
Angel glanced at the clock, noting it was rather early still.

  
“A little soon for you to close up Husk baby,” Angel flirted.

  
Husk rolled his eyes, “It’s my night off,” he said.

  
“Oh? Got some big plans then? Meeting up with someone special?” Angel asked.

  
“Tch, as if. I’m hitting the casinos tonight,” Husk clarified.

  
“Didn’t you hit the slots the other night?” Angel asked.

  
Husk raised a brow, “And your point?”

  
Angel shrugged, taking another sip of his drink.

  
“Anything else, kid?” asked Husk.

  
Angel thought for moment. He still had a few more coins that Vaggie gave him, he pondered over if he should use them up. The idea was tempting.

  
“Nah, I think I’m good,” he answered.

  
Husk grumbled something under his breath, turning his back as he cleaned up for the night.

  
Angel ignored Husk, focusing on his phone as he scrolled through social media with a drink in his hand. At some point Angel looked up from his phone to see that Husk was already gone now, leaving his close sign up on the bar counter. Angel was surprise that he didn’t hear Husk leave but the old flee bag had the habit of slipping out of the room without making a sound.

  
With a shrug, Angel turned back to his phone, briefly looking at the time, before scrolling through it again.

  
Taking the last few sips of his drink, the familiar click of shoes caught his attention, looking up from his phone in time to see Alastor coming down the stairs. Looking back to the clock on his phone, he noted that Alastor was right on time.

  
As soon as Alastor hit the bottom of the stairs Angel put his phone down, leaning back on the bar with a flirtatious smile.

  
“Off to work, Smiles?” Angel called from across the lobby.

  
Alastor looked up to Angel’s direction, his smile growing a little larger.

  
“Ah, Angel Dust! I didn’t see you there,” said Alastor, strolling towards Angel’s direction, “What are you still doing here, if I may ask? You are usually gone from the hotel during this time.”

  
“Decided to stay in tonight, have some me time that is,” Angel leaned back in his seat, crossing his long legs.

  
“Really now,” Alastor said, not looking convinced, “That’s a little usual for you. You usually go out every night, even in your free time.”

  
Angel shrugged, “Not feeling up to dealing with dumb fucks tonight. I’ve had enough of those at work already.”

  
“Ah, I can understand that,” said Alastor.

  
“So, any special plans for tonight’s show?” Angel asked.

  
“Nothing to exciting yet, I save the big shows on Saturdays. But who knows, maybe I’ll find a last minute ‘guest’ perhaps. Yes, I think that’s the plan tonight,” Alastor’s grin grew.

  
Angel chuckled lightly, grabbing his drink, “Poor bastard,” he took a sip.

  
“Will you be listening tonight?” he asked Angel.

  
“Can’t, even though I’m staying in I still have things to do.”

  
Angel wasn’t sure if he was buzzed or not. But he could have sworn that Alastor’s smile dropped the slightest bit, or it might just be the lighting.

  
“Understood,” said Alastor, “A demon as popular as you is always busy.”

  
“Hey, what can I say, the public loves me,” said Angel.

  
“That’s an understatement.”

  
“Ah, don’t tell me you’re jealous of them, Al,” Angel leaned closer to Alastor, fluttering his eyelashes, “You always will have a special place in my heart, no matter what.”

  
Alastor materialized his staff in his hand, gentle pushing Angel back with it when he got a little too close.

  
“I’ll keep that in mind next time,” said Alastor.

  
Angel smiled, “But I’ll catch your show tomorrow, I promise.”

  
“Then I will make sure that tomorrow night will be extra special.”

  
“Can’t wait,” Angel winked.

  
Alastor turned a nice light shade of pink, before coughing into his fist to regain his composer.

  
“Well look at the time! I need to get going if I want to start my show on time,” Alastor declared, “Take care, Angel dear,” with a turn on his heel, Alastor walked across the lobby, and headed to front doors and left.

  
Angel waited for a total of thirty seconds after Alastor left, before getting out his seat, and rushed across the lobby to the front door. Cracking the door open Angel peered out to see Alastor’s retreating form disappearing off in the distance. 

  
With Alastor gone now, Angel moved back to the bar, finishing his drink, as well as grabbing his phone, and left the lobby, and headed to the back of the hotel.

  
Somewhere tucked in back of the hotel, passed the dining room, was the cocktail lounge.

  
Angel didn’t know this room existed since it was far back here in the hotel. He can see why Vaggie picked this room for their rehearsal. Very few knew of its existence, a perfect place to rehearse without anyone irrupting them.

  
Walking into the lounge, Angel saw Vaggie on the small stage, getting everything ready for them, and was a little surprise to see Baxter was already up there with her. He already made himself comfortable at the piano, looking through his sheet music. Angel was the only one they were missing to get this show on the road.

  
Vaggie was finishing tuning her guitar when she noticed Angel approaching the stage.

  
“Well?” she asked.

  
Angel hauled himself up onto the stage, “Al just left,” he told her.

  
“Charlie retired early tonight, so I doubt she will be coming out anytime soon,” said Vaggie.

  
“And Husky just told me he left to hit the casino’s tonight,” said Angel.

  
“Knowing him he won’t be back until the crack of dawn,” commented Vaggie, “Either way, everyone is almost gone, meaning good news for us.”

  
Angel hummed in agreement, walking over to the mic stand.

  
“We ready to do this?” he asked.

  
“Just give me one more minute,” Vaggie pressed a few keys on her computer, “and…. There! Alright now we are set. I manage to program it to play the parts that the band will cover for us during the show.”

  
“What about you, shorty? You good to go?” Angel asked Baxter.

  
Baxter scuffed, “Of course I am! Who do you think you are talking to here?”

  
Angel rolled his eyes.

  
“Alright,” began Vaggie, “Whenever you are ready Baxter.”

  
“I am ready!” he yelled

  
“Then start the damn song!” she yelled

  
Baxter growled towards Vaggie but turned his attention to piano and began to play. After a few notes Vaggie turned the music on her laptop on to fill the missing gasp that they needed.

  
Angel took a few deep breaths, calming himself as he prepared and waited for his que.

  
The last time he sang this song on stage was in front of Evelyn and that was a horrify experience. He was so nervous and scared that he really struggled to sing without messing up. But even still Evelyn said he still needed to loosen his nerves, she knew that he was struggling. But still, she liked him enough and was willing to look over his stage fright a bit to give him a chance, this time. When it was time for him to go on, Angel knew he couldn’t afford to mess up and had to make sure he got this down right. Too much was riding on this show.

  
This was his chance to show everyone that he was more than a pretty face and a hot body that everyone would kill to have. As much as he loved to be adored and desired, he just wants to show the world that there was more to him than those things and that he should be adored just as much.

  
The first few tries were rough, Vaggie messed up on the solo, and Baxter missed a part and tried to make it up for. It didn’t sound good when he did. The second try Angel missed a lyric that made him mess up so much that they had to stop in the middle and try again. The third try went a little better, expect everyone messed a little bit on their ends but wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t good enough.

  
But their seventh try they were much better that now there was only a few mistakes, but nothing major. In fact for their first day of rehearsal it wasn’t too bad if Angel said so himself.

  
Angel hummed into the mic, lost in the moment, his eyes closed, as the song slowly came to an end of a trumpet finished. He expected to hear the clock start ticking but instead he heard clapping. His eyes snapped open and looked out into the lounge and, sure enough, there was someone sitting in the back.

  
Villa was clapping, a large smile on her face, as she stood up from her seat to give them a standing ovation.

  
Angel was at a loss for words, not expecting Villa to be here of all people, let alone that she snuck in without anyone knowing she was there. He glanced to Vaggie, who was just as surprise as he was that Villa was here.

  
Once Villa finished clapping, she turned and walked out of the lounge.

  
Baxter came up to stand beside Vaggie, just as confused as the other two of what just happened.

  
“I thought you said not many people know about this,” he said to her.

  
“There isn’t,” she said.

  
“Should we be concern?” Angel asked Vaggie.

  
“Nah, its Villa. During her whole stay here she hasn’t said one damn word to anyone,” she pointed out.

  
“Good point.”

* * *

The next few days, rehearsals carried on in the cocktail lounge every evening. Every night after Alastor left they started rehearsing. Vaggie soon found a way to make it easy to distract Charlie from ever coming down during rehearsals. How, was actually simple. Vaggie found it was easy to get her all hyped up in their redemption plans that it was easy to keep Charlie in her room, working on ideas to help their guests here. With Alastor gone, and Charlie distracted, that left only Husk as the big threat in their plans but by the time it was time to start rehearsals, Husk was usually too drunk to realize what they were doing, or just simply passed out.

  
All that left now was Villa.

  
Angel and Vaggie didn’t know what to do about her, honestly. For one, ever since Villa has checked into the hotel she hasn’t said a single word to anyone. So the chances of her telling anyone what they were doing was very low, and she was pretty much a wall flower, always silently watching, never disturbing them as they rehearsed, in fact it kind of workout nice to have Villa there. Every night, she came to watch, bringing snacks and drinks for Angel, Vaggie, and Baxter. And when she watched their performance Angel started to watch for Villa’s expression, just to see what she would do. If he hit a note that was wrong, her face would scrunch up in displeasure. If he hit a note just right, pleasant to the ears, her face would lighten up. You could say that Villa became their silent critic that would let them know what they were doing, right or wrong. It was really helpful.

  
After their first day of rehearsal everyone seemed to have relaxed a little as they started to get the hang of the song. It was actually kind of fun in Angel’s opinion. The nervous he once had are gone as he started to feel more confident every time he sang. Vaggie was also enjoying herself, and she was the uptight one in the group, usually. She was also pretty good with the guitar, Angel admits. She wasn’t quite as good as some of the guitarist from those 80s groups that Cherri listens to when he hangs out at her apartment, but she wasn’t mediocre either. But the biggest surprise to see was their little gremlin was having a good time with them. There were times were he would get little playful and play a quick little tune that put a smile on your face. Angel was pretty sure he was mostly showing off but it was good to see he was at least enjoying himself with them.

  
Tonight was their last night rehearsing until they headed for the club tomorrow and show off what they’ve been working so hard on for the last couple of days. 

  
They didn’t rehearse for very long tonight. They’ve already played twice and both performances were perfect, and this was their third one. And if this one went as good as the other two then they’ve got this in the bag.

  
Angel finished the last lyric, the trumpet playing in the background as it slowly died down as the clock came on. Vaggie turned the music off on her computer, seeing no point in letting that play on.

  
Once the song ended, Villia stood up from her seat, sitting up front this time instead of the back, and started clapping with a big smile on her face, giving Angel two thumbs up.

  
“I guess that’s a wrap then,” declared Angel.

  
“I think so,” Vaggie agreed, looking at the time on her laptop, “And we finished early to. It hasn’t been an hour.”

  
“It would be best to stop on a good note. No point in grinding perfection to the ground,” said Baxter.

  
“Gremlin’s got a point,” said Angel, ignoring the glare he got from Baxter.

  
“Well, we did start early enough to not miss dinner,” commented Vaggie.

  
“You think the princess and Nifty are back yet?” asked Angel.

  
Vaggie pulled her phone out to look at her messages, and sure enough, there was a few messages from Charlie.

  
“She messaged me a few minutes ago, she says that she and Nifty are on their way back from the store.”

  
“Good timing then,” stated Angel, “Glad you suggested doing this with those two out. And who the Hell knows where Al ran off to this morning.”

  
“Yeah, but he could be back any minute, and I know we have at least twenty or so minutes before Charlie gets back,” said Vaggie.

  
“Quick clean up job it is,” declared Angel.

  
Angel, Baxter, Vaggie, and Villia quickly cleaned up in the cocktail lounge, putting all the instruments away, rolling up cords, and packed whatever they would need to take with them tomorrow. Evelyn was already providing the band for them but there were still a few things they needed to bring with them to use. Like Vaggie guitar for one.

  
They left the cocktail lounge just as they found before rehearsals, making it look like no one was ever there. They stored everything they would need tomorrow in a closest by the lounge, where Vaggie knows that Charlie will never look, for she doesn’t even know it exist. With everything done and ready to go, the group made their way to the lobby of the hotel, seeing that Husk was the only one present there. Husk barely spared them a glance when they came in, focusing on cleaning the bar top with a beer in one hand.

  
Angel and Villa were the only ones that came up to the bar, taking a seat.

  
“Hey Husk, babe?” Angel winked.

  
Husk grunted, not bothering to look up.

  
“Can I get my usual cocktail?” Angel asked.

  
“Do you have coins?” Husk asked.

  
“Of course,” Angel pulled out a hand full of his Good Boy coins from his pocket, and dropped them on the counter, “And keep the coming until there’s nothing left.” Considering the amount of coins Angel still had, he can get quite a lot of drinks for it.

  
“Hey! You can’t just get yourself ass drunk tonight! You can’t afford it!” Vaggie scolded him.

  
Angel rolled his eyes, “Relax toots, I was going to share them with Villa? What do you want, Villa?” Angel turned to ask Villa.

  
Villa thought for a moment before she made a gesture that Husk has come to learn what drink she was ordering. Thankfully she only gets the same drink here at the hotel so it was easy for him to figure it out.

  
Vaggie glared at Angel but said nothing as Husk took the coins and served Angel and Villa their drinks.

  
“Thanks Babe,” Angel smiled with a wink.

  
In return, Husk flipped him off.

  
Vaggie sighed in frustration, storming away with Baxter following behind her. 

  
“What was that all about anyway?” Husk asked once Vaggie was gone.

  
“Nothing in important,” was Angel’s answer as he reached for his drink and took a sip.

  
Villa flashed Husk a smile.

  
Husk thought about pressing a little more but decided against it for he didn’t feel like dealing with these two at once. God lord, one of them was just a headache alone.

  
Angel heard the front doors of the lobby opening, not bothering to turn around until he quickly heard crying. 

  
Charlie and Niffty returned back to the hotel, grocery bags in hand, nothing unusual. The only thing that was usual was that there was a crying Mimzy with them.

  
What the Hell?

  
Angel’s mood suddenly started to sour.

  
What was with Charlie bring her here unannounced all the time?

  
“What’s up?” Husk was the one to ask once the girls got closer.

  
“Mimzy sadly received some bad news,” Charlie answered.

  
“What kind?” Angel asked curiously. Not that he really cared much for her but he was a very curious spider after all.

  
“It’s Evelyn,” Mimzy answered, whipping her eyes with a handkerchief that Niffty gave to her earlier, “She just informed me that I am not preforming on Fortune Night, which is tomorrow night!”

  
“And that’s bad?” Husk asked.

  
“It’s one of our biggest nights!” Mimzy burst into fat tears, “We have them only five times a year, where everyone who is anybody, comes to. It’s my biggest shows too! But Evelyn told me an hour ago not to both putting together anything tomorrow, for she already got an act!”

  
Charlie and Niffty tried to comfort Mimzy, who was clearly in need, unaware that Angel was having his own inner turmoil. Angel remembered Rosie mentioning something about him preforming on one of Evelyn’s busier nights. But he didn’t know that half of Hell is apparently going to show up tomorrow! For the love of god, when they were there that night, the place already looked busy to Angel, but apparently that isn’t a busy night to them!?

  
Angel is used to performing in front of a large crowd, Hell he’s also performed in front of the camera more times than he could count. So it’s not like he isn’t use to having so many eyes on him, he’s used to being the center of attention. But that was his just job. Sexual profession was his thing. Everyone was looking to him for his body, not his talent. This is different; it’s far from the same.   
When Angel gets up on that stage tomorrow night everyone will be looking to him for his natural talent of singing, not for sex or his body.

  
He came out from his inner turmoil when Angel felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, looking over to see Villa. She smiled at him, looking a little concern as she seemed to know what exactly was going on in his head. For someone that is always quiet Angel had to admit that Villa could easily pick up on how others were feeling.

  
“Maybe you should talk to Evelyn, Mimzy,” suggested Charlie, “She seems nice. I’m sure if you guys talked she would understand, after all you are as much as in charge as she is.”

  
Mimzy froze and paled at Charlie’s suggestion, “O-Oh no, I couldn’t do that.”

  
“Well, if you want I can talk to her for you, Mimzy,” suggested Charlie, “I’m sure if she understood-“

  
“No!” Mimzy shouted, startling everyone at her sudden outburst.

  
Mimzy quickly composed herself.

  
“Sorry, sweetie. I appreciate the gesture but I can handle this on my own,” she apologized.

  
“That’s okay. I apologize if I crossed a boundary. Why don’t we go to my office, and we can talk,” said Charlie.

  
“Come on, Mimzy,” Niffty lead Mimzy to Charlie’s office.

  
“Husk,” Charlie turned to Husk, “Can you bring some drinks to my office. Non-alcoholic if possible.”

  
“Kid, judging by her mood she’s going to need something strong to get through whatever mess she’s in,” said Husk.

  
Charlie frowned a little at Husk’s words but slightly agreed with him.

  
“How about something with low alcohol in it then?” she asked.

  
“That I can do,” he asked.

  
Charlie smiled, “Thanks Husk,” and followed after Mimzy and Niffty.

  
“Do you even have anything that’s low level alcohol?” asked Angel.

  
“Nope.” Husk answered, putting together the drinks Charlie requested, “All I can do is just drowned it in sweeteners.”

  
Villa held her drink up, which was a very fruity cocktail.

  
“Yeah, like that,” Husk replied to her unspoken question. 

  
Less than ten minutes later, Husk had three drinks prepared, heavily sweeten, and fruity, at the princess’s request.

  
“Take these to Charlie,” Husk ordered Angel.

  
Angel glared at him, “Why do I have to do it. The princess asked you to bring them, not me,” he retorted.

  
“Because I’ve got shit to do and don’t have time to be a waiter,” said Husk.

  
“Like what?”

  
“That’s none of your damn business. Just take the fucking drinks.”

  
Seeing that this was going to be a losing battle Angel decided to just bite the bullet and do what Husk asked. It’ll be less irritating on Angel’s behalf anyway. 

  
Taking the tray with a huff Angel matched to the back where the hotel offices were located. Angel grumbled the whole way there, cursing Husk for his own damn laziness. He really didn’t want to see Mimzy, even if she was miserable right now, which helped a little, but still. He just doesn’t get why the bitch keeps coming around here all of the time now. It’s like that first time he met her, that woman has been plaguing him ever since, always there, whether it’s mentally or physically. 

  
Charlie’s door came in sight, and Angel could see that it was cracked open.

  
“-but Jonesy wouldn’t back me up on this,” he heard Mimzy’s voice.

  
“But he’s the band leader, he should,” came Charlie.

  
Mimzy chuckled sadly, “He’s also Evelyn’s right hand man. He’s not going to go against her. You are very sweet Charlie but Evelyn’s word is finally in this.”

  
“What does she have lined up anyway if it’s not you,” came Niffty, “I really can’t picture anyone better then you to do the show tomorrow.

  
Angel scowled slightly outside the door.

  
He remained quiet as he listened into their conversation, staying hidden.

  
“She won’t tell me. Only that it’s a confidential contract she made. So I really don’t know,” said Mimzy.

  
“Well, it’s only for just one night, Mimzy. There are going to be other shows,” Charlie tried to cheer her up.

  
“Not like this one. This one was going to be different,” she confessed.

  
“What do you mean?” Niffty asked.

  
“Evelyn said she sent out an invitation to Alastor to him and to give to everyone here at the hotel for Fortune Night tomorrow,” she said.

  
“Really? I haven’t see Alastor since this morning so he hasn’t had the chance to tell us yet. What is Fortune Night?” asked Charlie.  
“Fortune Night is a huge event for us; anyone that is anybody would die to attend that event. Evelyn always invites Overlords, including Alastor, to those nights but it’s very rare that Alasotr comes. But since the invitation wasn’t just to him only, but the rest of you, I know he would come. And I was planning to finally… tell him something.”

  
Angel froze.

  
Niffty suddenly let out a squeal.

  
“What? I think I’m missing something?” asked Charlie.

  
“I can’t believe you are finally going to do it!” declared Niffty.

  
“What?” asked Charlie.

  
Mimzy giggled lightly, “It’s a little personal,” her voice got all shy and embarrassed.

  
“You can tell Charlie! She can keep a secret!” said Niffty.

  
_‘No she can’t,’_ Angel thought.

  
If he thought that the princess could keep secrets then he would have told her that he was the act tomorrow night.

  
“Tell me what,” Charlie whined.

  
Mimzy giggled, “If I tell you, sweetie. You have to promise to keep it a secret. Just like Niffty said.”

  
“I will! I promise!”

  
“Okay, okay,” Mimzy laughed a little, “This show tomorrow, I was hoping to make a good impression on Alastor.”

  
Angel could feel his heart starting to pound in his chest.

  
Why did this sound familiar. 

  
“I’ve known Alastor for a very long time. We’ve always gotten along great; we even have good chemistry together. Not to mention he is so sweet on me that it’s hard for a girl not to fall for him,” she sighed happily.

  
This was all too familiar to him.

  
“You like Alastor!” Charlie squealed.

  
Angel’s body tensed, hands gripping the tray.

  
Mimzy giggled again, “Tomorrow I was planned on putting on the best performance for him, and then tell him how I feel.”

  
He couldn’t breathe.

  
“That’s wonderful Mimzy. I’m so happy for you!” said Charlie.

  
“Thank you. And you know the best part is,” said Mimzy.

  
“What?” asked Charlie.

  
“I’m very positive that he feels the same.”

* * *

“For the last time, we are not putting in a giant freezer!” yelled Vaggie.

  
“Why not? I do not see what the problem is,” demanded Baxter.

  
“I am not going to let you have the opportunity to store, Lucifer knows what, in that thing. For all I know you will be storing bodies in there, that is not what the hotel is about it,” declared Vaggie.

  
“I would never put bodies in there. And you can’t prove that!” said Baxter.

  
In the office next to Charlie’s, was the spare office where Charlie and Vaggie filed most of the documents away in here. Vaggie and Baxter sat at the desk in the center of room, going over the plans for Baxter’s lab.

  
“How do you expect me to properly do my experiments if I don’t have a proper cooling containment to help control it?”

  
“You learn to not need it.”

  
“That’s unacceptable!” Baxter yelled.

  
Vaggie sighed, feeling a headache coming on.

  
“Look you-“

  
The sound of glass breaking outside the office caught Vaggie’s attention, along with the sound of something hitting the ground.  
Curious, Vaggie stood up and moved to go inspect the noise outside.

  
Looking out of the office, there was no one out in the hall. But she did find the source of the noise outside of Charlie’s office she shared with, where broke glass laid on the ground, along with a tray. 

  
Vaggie moved to the mess just as Charlie came out to expect the noise she heard too.

  
“What was that?” Charlie asked Vaggie.

  
Vaggie gestured to the mess in front of her.

  
Charlie looked down, “Oh.”

  
“I heard a mess!” Niffty suddenly zipped out of the office to see the said mess, “My goodness! I better clean that up!” she zipped off.  
“Oh dear,” Mimzy suddenly appeared from the office; surprising Vaggie at her sudden appearance.

  
“Charlie,” Vaggie got her girlfriend’s attention, gesturing to Mimzy with her head.

  
For Angel’s sack, Vaggie had a talk with Charlie about suddenly bring Mimzy’s presence around the hotel. She didn’t tell Charlie why, just that Vaggie would like a heads up if Mimzy is coming around so she can help Angel avoid being in the same room with her.

  
Charlie seemed to catch on to what Vaggie was hinting.

  
“Hey Mimzy, do you mind giving Niffty a hand,” Charlie asked.

  
“Sure, but knowing Niffty I don’t think I will be much help to her,” she said as she walked off to find Niffty.

  
Once Mimzy was gone Vaggie turned to Charlie, “Charlie-“

  
“I know Vaggie. I’m sorry but Niffty and I ran into her when she was really down and just needed a little pick me up.”

  
Vaggie sighed; of course Charlie wouldn’t turn her away if Mimzy needed her.

  
“But you will never guess what I just found out!” Chalrie smiled brightly.

  
Vaggie blinked at Charlie’s sudden brightness.

  
“What is it hon?” she asked.

  
“If I tell you you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone. I promised Mimzy I wouldn’t tell anyone either but I really need to tell you, because you will never believe it,” she squealed. 

  
“Okay, okay I promise I won’t say anything,” said Vaggie, “Now what is it?”

  
“Mimzy has a huge crush on Alastor, and she was planning on confessing to him tomorrow night,” said Charlie.

  
Vaggie’s heart dropped, “What?”

  
“And the best part is. Mimzy’s positive that Alastor likes her back. Isn’t it that great, Vaggie!” 

  
No.

  
No it was not great at all. In fact it was the complete opposite of great.

  
“Yeah… that’s great,” Vaggie hesitated, “Look hon, I need to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

  
Charlie frowned at Vaggie she watched her walk by, “Vaggie?” she called but Vaggie didn’t answer.

  
Vaggie quickly rushed into the lobby, only to see Husk and Villa in the lobby. Husk was cursing while Villa was out of her chair and looking to the front doors with concern.

  
“Where’s Angel?” Vaggie asked.

  
Husk was the one that answered, still scowling, “The Hell should I know. All I know is that I asked him to take the drinks to Charlie, and then two minutes later, he comes rushed out here and runs straight for the fronts doors.”

  
Vaggie’s worse fear was realized. 

  
Vaggie ran to the front doors and burst outside as she frantically searched for Angel.

  
“Angel!” she called out.

  
Silence.

  
“Angel!” she called again.

  
There was still nothing.

  
Vaggie looked up and down the streets, hoping she would catch sight of him. But there was no one. Angel was long gone.

  
Sighing in defeat, Vaggie turned around to see both Baxter and Villa standing at the doors, both looking concern. 

  
Vaggie frowned, looking so lost at what to do now.

* * *

**-Angel, where are you?-**

  
**-Please answer-**

  
**-We’re very worried about you-**

  
**-I’m worried about you-**

  
**-Please talk to me Angel-**

  
**-Damn it all Angel! Answer me!-**

  
**-Please answer me…-**

  
**-I know what happened, Angel. Just please talk to me-**

  
**-Please, Angel. Tell me what to do?-**

  
**-I want to help you. Don’t push us away-**

  
**-We are your friends. We want to help you-**

  
**-Angel, where are you?-**

  
Angel scrolled through all the text messages from Vaggie, the light of his phone washing over his tear stain face.

  
He sat alone in his old dressing from at the porn studios, sitting in center of his room, alone, and in the dark.

  
He closed his message box and brought up his photos. At first, he scrolled through the photos of his friends, barely staying on the same picture for more than two seconds, until he stopped on the picture he was looking for. 

  
This one was of Alastor, sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace, reading a book, looking up to the camera with his usual smile. He remembered this one. This was about a week after Alastor appeared at the hotel. Angel was laying on the couch, across from Alastor, and took a picture without Alastor knowing. But of course he knew, for Angel was surprised that he looked up to Angel at the last second, in time to smile at the camera. After that he thought Alastor would be angry at Angel for doing that, but after the picture, he turned back to his book and the subject never came up.

  
This picture Angel was very fawn of, for it was the only picture of Alastor that he allowed Angel to take of the said demon.  
Angel gently runs his finger down Alastor’s face, humming quietly.

  
“~I wonder…~” he sang quietly, “~… do I love you?~” tears began forming in the corners of his eyes again, “~Or the thought of you…~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the final chapter, and possibly the longest one since I'm going to wrap everything up.
> 
> I'm looking for some whore OCs for the next and finale chapter! If you want your OCs in the story, send me their profiles on Twitter.
> 
> To get the latest updates, follow me on Twitter.
> 
> https://twitter.com/whitewinds2


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel remains MIA while everything falls apart and it's up to Vaggie to hold everything together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was way longer then I thought it would be so I had to divide it in half for my own sanity.
> 
> I probably should have gone over this chapter once more but I'm tried and I just want to get this out. I probably at some point go back and read it over once more to fix it up. So sorry everyone if this chapter is a little sloppy. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Vaggie didn’t get much sleep that night, checking her phone to many times that she couldn’t keep track. Despite Angel’s lack of response Vaggie kept sending him messages, even getting up a few times during the night to try to call him. But every time she called it just went straight to his voicemail. It was a restless night for Vaggie that when morning finally did come she felt like crap.

Her head felt heavy when Charlie’s alarm went off, shutting it off right away so it didn’t blare into her aching head. Slowly, Vaggie sat up, looking beside her to see that Charlie was already gone, starting the day early as always without the need of an alarm. Why she had one Vaggie didn’t know.

Checking her phone Vaggie prayed that Angel responded to any of her messages. But sadly there was nothing.

Sighing, Vaggie put her phone down and rolled out of bed.

Slipping into her slippers Vaggie left her room and headed for the elevators. She took the elevator up to Angel’s floor, two floors above theirs.

With Angel gone, and who knows when he will he return, Fat Nugget will need someone to care for him until Angel returned, including letting him out to do his business then do it in the hotel.

The elevator’s dinged, signaling Vaggie that she reached Angel’s floor, as the doors opened. She stepped out into the long hall, passing the first few rooms before she stopped in her tracks when she noticed at the end of the hall Angel’s door was cracked open. Quickly Vaggie picked up her pace and rushed to Angel’s room, bursting in.

“Angel!” exclaimed Vaggie.

But there was no Angel, but only Villa, who was kneeling down beside Fat Nugget, his pig food bag in her hand.

Vaggie’s expression fell, “Oh, sorry Villa. I just thought Angel was back.”

Villa frowned sadly, knowing that Vaggie got her hopes up for nothing.

“Have you heard from Angel?” Vaggie asked.

Villa shocked her head, standing up now.

Vaggie sighed, sitting down on the edge of Angel’s bed, “I wish he would answer us.”

Villa nodded in agreement, putting Fat Nugget’s food away.

“Maybe he’s talked to Charlie,” she said hopefully.

* * *

“Have you seen Angel, Vaggie? I wanted to verify his next session,” Charlie asked at the breakfast table.

“You haven’t him seen?” what little hope Vaggie had just plummeted.

Charlie shook her head, “The last time I saw him was yesterday at the bar. Did he have to go work late last night? He didn’t tell me he was leaving so soon. I wonder if Valentino called him in,” Charlie frowned at the mention of the pimp.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s big boy hon, don’t need to worry,” if only Vaggie believed in her own words.

“Maybe you are right,” said Charlie.

“Fruity boy will be fine,” Husk said across the table, not looking up from his plate, “He’s a pain in the ass but he’s got street smarts, he’s survived this long in Hell if he didn’t. Remember that.”

“See, Husk knows what I mean,” actually his words made Vaggie feel a lot better more than Charlie.

“Who wants seconds?” Niffty announced coming out of the kitchen with a plate of waffles.

“Bring them here,” said Crymini, not looking up from her phone.

“I’ll have one more, Niffty,” said Charlie.

Niffty served Crymini and Charlie.

“Anyone else?” she asked.

Villa waved her over, wanting one more.

Niffty finished serving Villa just as Alastor came strolling into the room.

“Morning everyone!” he greeted.

“Oh Al, your back!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Sorry for being so unfashionably late, had some business I had to attend to you see,” said Alastor as he sat down at the breakfast table.

Niffty quickly rushed back into the kitchen and brought out a cup of coffee and a butter croissant for Alastor.

“Thank you, Niffty,” said Alastor.

“Mimzy stopped by yesterday and told us that Evelyn gave you invitations for all of us tonight,” said Charlie.

“Aw yes!” Alastor pulled an envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it off to Charlie, “Evelyn has kindly extended an invitation to all of you, a little unusual for her.”

Charlie opened up the envelope to find enough invites for everyone in the hotel, along with a hand full of silver coins with a grinning fox and two Japanese characters engraved on them.

“What are these?” Charlie asked, holding the coins up to Alastor.

“Those you want to hold on to for tonight, we will need them,” Alastor told her, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Mimzy said something that it was Fortune Night and that it’s a huge a huge event,” asked Charlie.

“That it is. And a once in a life time chance for those that would die to attend to,” said Alastor, “I would highly suggest to everyone to dress their best tonight.”

“Do I have to go?” Crymini complained.

“Oh come on, Crymini. It sounds as if it will be fun,” said Charlie, “Dressing up, attending the highest club of all of Hell, and having the best food and drinks you can ever find.”

“Not to mention the best high role tables,” Husk muttered, mostly to himself, eyeing the invitation in Charlie’s hand.

“Plus entertainment is good, even if it’s not Mimzy, with a nice band that plays the classics,” Charlie added.

“Sounds stupid,” answered Crymini, “I don’t want to go to a stuffy, uptight, full of pompous assholes and listen to some looser band with a third grade act.”

Vaggie shot Crymini a dirty glare, and she wasn’t the only one. Both Baxter and Villa were giving her angry looks as well.

“Come on, Crymini. It’ll be fun!” said Charlie.

Crymini simply sneered.

“I would highly suggest that we take Evelyn’s kind invitation. We don’t want to offend her. It wouldn’t be the wises choice after all,” said Alastor, hinting that there were would be disaster for the hotel if they did.

“See, Crymini. We would hurt Evelyn’s feels if we didn’t show up,” said Charlie, missing the point of what Alastor was trying to hint.

“Anyways, so what is this that I hear that Mimzy is not the star attraction tonight?” Alastor changed the subject.

“Yeah, it’s awful!” Niffty suddenly exclaimed beside Alastor, “She said that Evelyn told her not to both putting anything together tonight because she’s already booked something else. But she won’t tell Mimzy anything about it, even if Mimzy is in charge of all the performances there.”

“Really,” Alastor took another sip of his coffee, “Well, that sounds like Evelyn for you. I’m not surprise by that news, honestly. But I am curious to know what kind of act that caught her attention to be able to perform on such a big night for her.”

“You are going to come, right?” Vaggie asked.

“Hm?” he replied.

“The club tonight, you are going with us?” Vaggie asked again.

Despite not able to find Angel right now, at least she can make sure that Alastor goes to the club tonight. The reason that Angel was doing all of this was for Alastor, and if he didn’t go tonight to see the show then all their work will be for nothing. Vaggie had to make sure that Alastor went tonight, no matter what.

“I don’t usually go to Fortune Night. Not that I don’t enjoy it of course, it’s quite a splendid time. I just wish to use these coins for a rainy day when I need them,” Alastor held his coin up between his fingers.

“Is that a yes, or no?” Vaggie pressed.

“You should go!” Niffty declared.

“You should, Al. I know Mimzy would be happy to see you!” Charlie added in, “I know she’s always happy to see you.”

Vaggie couldn’t help but shoot Charlie an annoyed look. She wished she could tell Charlie about Angel’s feels for Alastor but for the love Lucifer she really couldn’t keep a secret. From the corner of Vaggie’s eye, she could see Villa face palm.

“Why not!” Alastor declared, “I haven’t been in a while. And I’m sure all of you will need a little guidance. Plus, I probably need to monitor dear old Huskie here as well.”

“What does that mean,” Husk leered at Alastor. 

Alastor laughed, “You will see later tonight.”

“I’m so happy to hear that,” Charlie cheered.

“When do we have to go to this dump?” Crymini grumbled, refusing to look up from her phone.

“If I recall, this club is far from a ‘dump’ as you call it,” declared Baxter, side eyeing Crymini, “Now the places you most likely hang out, and your home, a blind man would clearly see those are dumps. If not, shitting dumps, that no one would visit in a fifty foot radius.”

Crymini growled at Baxter.

“The event starts at five ‘o clock sharp, but the fashionably late people show up until seven o’clock,” said Alastor.

Both Charlie and Niffty squealed so loud that Husk flinched at the noise.

“This is going to be great, right Vaggie,” Charlie turned to Vaggie.

“Yeah,” Vaggie put on her fake smile, “It’ll be fun.”

The rest of their breakfast went by with little chit chat here and there until everyone was finished and went their separate ways. Vaggie helped Niffty a little in the cleanup, giving her mind something to focus on.

Once everything was cleaned up, and Niffty was gone to clean the rooms, Vaggie was left alone in the kitchen. After Niffty left it didn’t take long for Baxter and Villa to make their way into the kitchen, where Vaggie awaited, and sat at the island with her.

They sat in silence for a moment, no one willing to break ice yet.

In the end, Baxter decided to be the one to do it.

“Are we going as guests or the act tonight?” he asked.

Vaggie sighed, “I’m not really sure. Angel is MIA, and I’ve tried calling and texting him but he doesn’t answer me. I can’t ask Charlie or anyone else for help because they’ll want to know why he left and isn’t answering, and then we would have to tell everyone we’re the act tonight. It’s just a big fucking mess.”

“Then we should simply cancel then,” said Baxter.

“We can’t because that’s another issue all on its own. We can’t forget that the owner of the club is an Overlord. I don’t know much about Evelyn, but what I have figured out from bits and pieces that we don’t want to cancel on her, especially at the last minute. I fear it won’t end well for us,” Vaggie finish explaining with a shiver.

Baxter and Villa paled a little as they got what she was hinting.

“So we just carry on then?” asked Baxter.

“At this point we really don’t have much of a choice. We’ll have to go to the club tonight, with or without Angel, and hope he shows up,” said Vaggie.

“What if he doesn’t?”

“He will,” Vaggie said firmly, “He won’t leave us to the wolves.”

Villa made a gesture, which Vaggie figured she was trying to say ‘you mean foxes.’

“Either way, we are in a bad situation that could quickly go south,” Vaggie finished.

“Then perhaps we should speak with Alastor and Charlie for help,” said Baxter.

Vaggie shook her head, “Can’t, Angel made a deal with her so Alastor can’t break the contract between them. And even though Charlie is the Princess of Hell I know she can’t break it either without causing trouble. It would get her dad involved and that’s the last thing we need.”

“Why the fuck did I allow you to drag me into all of this!?” Baxter yelled, falling back in his chair. “I’m starting to wonder the same damn thing,” Vaggie groaned.

Everyone took a moment to calm down.

“So when do we need to leave then,” Baxter inquired, “I’m assuming we are not going with the princess and the others at seven.”

“We were requested to be there at six thirty, and we go on at eight thirty. They want us to show up early so we have time to prepared,” explained Vaggie.

Baxter sighed, “That damn bastard better show up soon,” he leaned back with his arms crossed.

“He will,” Vaggie looked to her phone.

* * *

“Yes. Yes! That’s perfect! Hold it there!”

Click, click.

“Now let me see you pout! Yes, just like that.”

Click, click.

“Okay now I want you to give me that sedative look that I know you have. There it is!”

Click, click.

“Alright that should do it! Wonderful work as always Angel Babe,” said the studio photographer.

“Nice working with you too, Mik. I’ll caught ya later,” Angel winked towards Mik’s direction, stepping down from his pedestal and made his way out of the room, passing a female demon, almost dress nothing, as she took Angel’s spot on the pedestal.

Angel made his way back to his dressing room, waving at a few of his co-works that he’s passed but never stopped to chat with. At this point he was more focus on getting out of this uncomfortable tight gem thong and this matching silver fishnet stocking. He may look killer in them but they were obviously not designed for comfort.

As soon as Angel entered his room, the door shut behind him, he immediately wasted no time of taking the wretched things off, and moved to his vanity mirror, naked. Sitting at his vanity Angel began inspecting his make up from the shoot. It looked just as perfect when he left for the shoot. But now he needs to change his face for the next job, a commercial shoot for the studio.

Whipping his eyeshadow clean Angel briefly glances at his phone when he noticed it was buzzing face down. Picking it up Angel opened his home screen to see he got two new text messages from Vaggie. 

Angel frowned sadly at his phone before putting it back down.

When he left the hotel he came straight to the studio, surprising Valentino at his sudden presence but welcomed him with open arms. As well as putting him to work right away. Angel didn’t mind. He knew he was falling behind on his work at the studio, looking for ways to dodge his work up until now. Now he welcomes it for it gives him something to focus on.

This was his job; this is what he was good at. It’s all he knows how to do now.

Someone knocked at Angel’s door, bring him back from his thoughts.

“Hold on!” he called, standing up to grab his short pink silk robe, putting it on, “Alright, what do you want fucker?”

The door opened and entered two female demons that Angel suppose he would almost call them his friends here.

“Angie! Where have you been!” whined a pink cat demon.

“We don’t see you anymore,” a lady bug demon pouted.

Angel smirked, “Don’t tell me you bitches missed me that much.”

“Only because Val gets off our backs when you’re around,” said the lady bug demon.

Like Angel said also most friends. Here at the studio, it’s every demon for themselves.

“We came to see if you have the mascara that I know you have that I like,” said the cat demon, who was already looking over the vanity table.

Not fazed at the invasion of his privacy, Angel picked up the desire item and handed it to her. Here at the studio it was very common for everyone to share, or steal, depending how you look at it, each other’s make up. Another thing that was common around here was everyone ran around half naked as he briefly noticed the girls were both topless. It was a porn studio after all. Modesty died a long time here, or never existed to begin with.

“So what have you been up to?” The cat demon asked, applying the mascara.

“Oh, just a little of this and a little of that,” Angel answered, turned to the mirror to put on a new face.

“I heard you’ve been locked up in that dreadful hotel lately by that goodie goodie princess,” said the lady bug demon.

“That must be so awful,” whined the cat demon.

“You couldn’t even pay me my freedom to go near that place,” the lady bug demon took the mascara from the cat demon, “Redemption, what a joke!”

“You don’t believe in that, right Angie?” asked the cat demon.

Angle hesitated to answer, “Well-“

“Oh please, Angel is the shining poster boy of this studio! He’s basically Lust itself. There’s no way that he believes in that bullshit,” said the lady bug demon.

Angel wouldn’t admit it but her words hurt more then he thought they would.

“Oh, oh! Angie! I have to tell you about this cute new security guard down stairs,” said the cat.

“You mean the one that you have been smutted with since last month?” he asked.

“Has it been that long?”

“It has been,” said the lady bug, helping herself to Angel’s makeup now.

“Well anyways, we finally went out for coffee last week!” the cat exclaimed.

“Really? Good for you,” said Angel, grabbing his blush.

“But then after that he forgot her name the next day,” said the bug.

Angel winced, “Ouch.”

The cat pouted, “It’s was so heartbreaking but we’ve barely talked a handful of times. So it’s not too surprising.”

“So what did you do?”

“Oh, I just decided to go fuck that cute barista the next day that was giving me goo goo eyes a few hours later,” said the cat.

“Wait, I thought you really like this guy? Did the barista pay you or something?” Angel questioned.

“Oh, no. I just want to move on to someone that would actually give me the attention I want,” answered the cat, “I didn’t want to wait for someone that I like to be oblivious to my feels and wait for Lucifer knows how long. It’s easier to just move on to someone easier.”

“It’s not worth waiting for someone if you ask me. Not when there are so many lined up that would love your company,” said the bug, “Why put in the work.”

“Yeah,” Angel muttered, feeling worse then he already did, “why would you…”

* * *

Vaggie slung her guitar case over her back as she quickly stepped down the few stairs steps in the back of the hotel, and rushed over to the waiting cabbie. Baxter followed Vaggie down the steps, carrying a large black case. 

“You better hurry, the meter’s ticking,” complain the cabbie. 

“Don’t pull that shit with me today!” Vaggie hissed at the cabbie, “If you dare charge me I swear I will dismember you right here!” Vaggie brought her dagger out and brought it close to the cabbie’s face.

The cabbie paled, pulling away from Vaggie’s knife.

“You want me to load your guitar while you’ll deal with the fee?” Baxter asked Vaggie from trunk, loading up.

“Sure,” Vaggie answered, her eyes not leaving the cabbie’s faces as she took her guitar off her back and handed it to Baxter.

“Okay, okay just put the knife down. I’ll turn it off for now,” said the cabbie.

“And it will start back to zero,” she hissed, moving the knife closer.

“Yes, yes,” the cabbie paled.

Satisfied Vaggie pulled away from the cabbie, “Good.”

Villa came out, dressed in a cute but classy pink dress, rushing down the small steps with a bag and two garment bags that were Vaggie and Baxter’s clothes. She rushed over to Baxter and handed the bag to him, who took it and placed it in the truck.

“That should be everything,” Baxter announced, closing the truck.

“Thanks Villa,” said Vaggie, taking the garment bags from her.

Villa smiled.

“Let’s get going. We should make sure to get there first before the others,” stated Baxter, getting into the cab.

“Villa, it’s your job to make sure everyone gets there. I gave an excuse to Charlie of why Baxter and I wouldn’t be going with her but will meet up later. Your main objective is to make sure Alastor sees the performance. Got it,” ordered Vaggie.

Villa saluted.

“Good.” 

Villa made a gesture to Vaggie’s phone, looking very concern.

“No word yet,” Vaggie told her, “We still have roughly less than three hours now. Still some time for him to show.”

Villia nodded.

The cabbie honked the horn.

“I’m coming!” Vaggie yelled, marching to the cab. Villa waved goodbye to them as the cab pulled out from the back of the hotel and started to head for the club. 

On the way Vaggie sent another text message to Angel and then called him to see if he would answer. But as always it went straight to his voicemail.

“Angel, it’s Vaggie again. Look, Baxter and I are heading to the club right now. You have a little less then three hours to get there before we go on. Please call me, Angel,” she ended the message.

She sighed and leaned back.

“Still nothing?” Baxter asked. 

Vaggie pinched the bridge of her nose, “No.”

“Don’t think I’m some kind of coward for saying this, which I’m not! But I-“

“I know, Baxter,” Vaggie said gently, “I’m getting nervous myself if Angel doesn’t show up.”

* * *

Villa paced around in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for everyone so they can all head to the club together. She’s been ready to go for the last twenty minutes, right after Vaggie and Baxter left. As soon as they were gone, she quickly rushed up to Angel’s room to check on Fat Nuggets and gather Angel’s things that he will need for tonight. 

This whole situation is such a mess. Things were looking so good until one little confession for it to all come crumbling down to the pits of Hell where they are. Villa was both mad and sad at all of this, and didn’t really blame anyone for it, for its just unrequired love while the require remains oblivious to all of this. 

Pulling her phone out Villa quickly texted a message to Angel herself, grateful that she got his number a few days ago while she did. But much like Vaggie, he’s ignored her messages as well.

“Oh, Villa you look great!”

Villa looked up to see Charlie all dressed up, looking quite dapper. 

Villa smile, gesturing to Charlie that she look great herself.

“Oh, thank you!” said Charlie, understanding what Villa was saying.

It didn’t take long for the others to show up, first was Niffty, Husk, and then Crymini, who took her sweet time getting down here. The only one that wasn’t here yet was Alastor, the main cause of all of this.

“Where’s Al, it’s almost time to go,” Charlie looked to Husk.

“He’ll probably be down soon enough. Bastard always likes to look his best for these things,” he told her.

“Of course! You are never dress without a smile!” Alastor suddenly announced, coming down the stairs.

He didn’t look to different then his everyday appearance other than his hair seemed to be a little neater and his shoes shined a little bit.

“I see everyone is dressed quite dapper for this evening,” said Alastor.

“You did say to dress our best,” said Charlie.

Alastor chuckled lightly. 

Looking around the lobby Alastor noticed they were missing a few people.

“The rest have not come down yet?” he questioned Charlie.

“Vaggie is going to meet us at the club later, she said she had to run a quick errand and took Baxter with her,” Charlie explained.

“I also noticed our main star of the hotel isn’t here either,” said Alastor.

“You mean Angel,” Charlie then looked concerned, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. I’ve tried calling him but he hasn’t answered. I’m getting a little worried.”

“If so, perhaps I should stay behind in case he returns. Or maybe, if you wish Charlie dear, I could go looking for him,” offered Alastor. 

Villa tensed at Alastor’s offer.

“Maybe that would be a good idea, if you wouldn’t mind,” Charlie agreed.

Villa picked up Angel’s bag and quickly rushed over to Charlie, gesturing to Charlie with her phone.

“Huh? You heard from Angel, Villa?” Charlie asked.

Villa nodded, making gesturers to let Charlie know that she was messaging Angel earlier and that he will meet them there.

“Oh that’s great,” Charlie sighed in relief, “I was really getting worried.”

“You are certain he said he will meet us there,” Alastor asked, lookeing to Villa.

A small shiver ran down Villa’s spine, almost feeling like Alastor was trying to find her lie.

Villa just quickly nodded and steered Charlie to the door as quickly as possible, while pointing to the clock in the lobby.

“Oh! You are right, Villa. We better leave or we will be late!” exclaimed Charlie, “Let’s go everyone.”

Everyone followed Charlie and Villa out the door and to the waiting limo that will take them to the club. Charlie went in first, quickly followed by Niffty, then Husk, and last Crymini, who slowly got in with her face buried in her phone. Villa turned to Alastor, hanging back a bit as he stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes. Smiling Villa stepped back to let Alastor in the limo first.

“Ladies first, my dear,” he told her. 

She smiled nervously, giving Alastor a small nod of thank you, before quickly rushing into the limo while hauling Angel’s bag in with her. Once she was in Alastor followed her in and closed the door behind him. 

The limo slowly pulled out from the hotel and started to head for the club.

Once Villa was sure Alastor wasn’t paying attention to her, she let out a large sigh of relief, cradling Angel’s bag to her chest. This whole evening is going to be stressful.

* * *

Angel scrolled through his messages, seeing that Villa has sent a few texts herself now, while he’s still receiving a whole boat load of text messages and voicemails from Vaggie.

Knock knock.

Angel put his phone down in time to see Valentino enter.

“How are you doing Angel Cakes?” he asked.

“Hi daddy, just being a good little boy,” he put on a fake face that Valentino always buy.

“Good to hear. I was happy to hear from you last night when you came back to the studio, and not wasting your time at the dump of a club,” said Valentino.

“Uh yeah, I figured that there was more important things to do here, like catching up on work,” not really but he wasn’t going to tell Valentino that.

“Well, you will be happy to know I put together a little song and dance number for you that you’ve been craving for,” Valentino told him.

Angel’s face lit up, “Yeah?”

“Yes, and I got the new script for you right here,” Valentino reached into his coat and pulled out a script and handed it to Angel, “Here you go.”

Angel eagerly took the script and immediately started reading through it. But a minute into it Angel’s eagerness began to drop.

“Is this the whole thing?” he asked, looking up to Valentino.

“It is. I had my best writers working all night putting it together. What do you think?”

“Well, it’s great and all. But I can’t help but notice the musical number I have is very short,” Angel pointed out.

Valentino’s smile dropped to a light scowl, “What do you mean short? You get to sing for about forty-five seconds.”

“That’s barely time for me to sing,” Angel lightly whined.

Valentino sighed in frustration, “Angel Cakes, I’m doing the best I can here. But let’s be honest here. You are not a singer, never will be a singer. Why Evelyn hired you to sing beats me. She probably wants to see you humiliate yourself, the bitch is like that. I’m trying to protect you from embarrassing yourself. And besides, people don’t pay to see you sing, nor do they care to see you sing.”

“Embarrass myself,” Angel said mostly to himself then to Valentino.

“Of course, Angel Cakes. I’m trying to protect you. I wouldn’t let you make a fool of yourself, well anymore of a fool,” smirked Valentino.

“I guess not,” Angel sighed sadly.

“Good! Make sure you memorize that script. We shoot in two hours. And your partner is Joo Joo,” Valentino announced moving to the door.

“Joo Joo! Val, you said I didn’t have to be paired up with that smug fucker! You know I hate him!” Angel yelled angrily.

Valentino glared down at Angel, making him instantly regret for raising his voice at his boss.

“You know, Angel Cakes. I’ve been very kind to you of late, I even went as far as filling your petty little wish to sing. I’ve even forgiven you for missing so much work, which I’m even questioning my generosity with that,” Valentino sneered down at Angel, “And this is the thanks I get!”

“I-I’m sorry, daddy. I really do appreciate everything you have done for me and your kindness towards my wishes. Please forgive me,” Angel pleaded.

“You know I don’t ask much from you, Angel Cakes,” obvious a lie, “So for you to do this shoot with Joo Joo shouldn’t be too much to ask."

“No, daddy. It isn’t,” Angel told him, sighing in defeat.

“Besides, you and Joo Joo have good chemistry together. Both of you always pull in the big bucks together.”

“Yes, daddy.”

“Now be a good little boy, Angel Cakes. Read the script for the shoot.”

“Yes, daddy.”

Satisfied, Valentino left Angel to prepare for his next shoot. Angel slumped in defeat at his vanity, completely forgetting his phone and the constant messages from both Vaggie and Villa.

* * *

Vaggie and Baxter finished unloading their gear from the cab while the cabbie remained silent, still fearful from Vaggie’s threats from earlier. As soon as he was paid, he pulled away from the back entrance of The Fire Fox Club, and hightailed it out of there.

Together, Vaggie and Baxter carried everything they brought to the best of their capabilities, up the small flight of stairs. The door was locked, no surprise there, for this place did have tight security. But there was a buzzer, which Tilly informed them to buzz it and someone will come and answer it. 

It took a few moments before the back door was opened and a large red demon answered it.

“What do you want?” he grunted.

Vaggie reached into her makeup bag and pulled out her backstage pass.

“We’re tonight’s performance,” she showed him the pass.

The red demon took, checking to see if it was legit. He then handed it back to Vaggie and stepped aside, “Come on in,” he said.

Vaggie stashed the pass back into her bag, and stepped inside with Baxter before the demon checked the back real quick, making sure there were no lurkers, and shut the door.

Inside they were greeted with loud music from the band on stage. They were in backstage of the club, a lot less chaotic then what Vaggie expected. There were a few people in the back, the stage crew from what she could tell, but there were no other performers back here, not even Mimzy.

The red demon gestured them to come with him over to the side, where they could see the band on the stage from where they stood.

The song they were playing was something from during World War II from what Vaggie guessed. Last time she was here they mostly played 1920s songs but she did notice that they did sing a song from the war.

On stage were the band, and only the band. Vaggie didn’t see a singer anywhere in sight, let alone Mimzy, but just a single mic stand sitting up front and alone on stage.

Then the trumpet player finished playing and moved over to the mic and started to sing.

“~Pardon me, boy. Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?~” the trumpeter demon sang.

“~Yes yes track twenty-nine~” the rest of the band sang back up. It would seem that the trumpeter was the leader singer right now, Vaggie figured. He didn’t have too much of a bad voice. It was actually very pleasant to the ears.

“~Boy, you can gimme a shine.~” the trumpeter played his trumpet.

“~Can you afford~” sang the band, “~To board the Chattanooga choo choo~”

“~I've got my fare,~” sang trumpeter, before playing his trumpet to the song.

“~And just a trifle to spare~” sand the band.

“Jonesy will get you guys settled in when he’s done,” the red demon told Vaggie and Baxter.

“Which is Jonesy?” Vaggie asked.

“The trumpet player, that’s Jonesy. He’s the band leader,” the demon pointed the trumpet player singing.

“~There's gonna be. A certain party at the station~” Jonesy sang.

“Once he’s done he’ll get you guys settle and let you know when you are on,” said the demon, “Is it just the two of you?”

“No, there is one more coming later,” she informed, “But he doesn’t have his backstage pass on him. I have it with me.”

“What’s the name? I’ll let him in,” asked the demon.

“Angel Dust,” she told him. He gave her a funny look, “The porn star?”

She narrowed her eyes, “Yeah.”

He snorted.

“What’s so funny?” she glared angrily at him.

“Nothing. I’m just surprise that the boss let him anywhere near this place. Whores are not allowed here,” he commented.

“So what if he is,” she didn’t appreciate where this was going.

“I’m just saying that I didn’t think he was good at anything, other than sucking dick,” he laughed.

Vaggie growled, moving to attack the bastard but was held back by Baxter.

Sadly Vaggie was stronger and bigger then him.

“Whoa, there little missy don’t need to get all huffy on me,” the bastard smirked at her.

“Why you-“

“You’re presence is no longer required here,” Baxter quickly put himself between Vaggie and the red demon, “we got everything we need so be gone with you.” He shooed him.

“Whatever you say shorty,” said the demon as he left to return back to work.

“You should have just let me clocked him,” Vaggie glared at the bastard’s retreating form.

“We don’t need any unnecessary trouble tonight. We have enough problems as it is,” Baxter pointed out.

“Yeah,” she ignored the other demon, turning back to the stage to see the band finishing up their song.

There was a large applause out in the audience as Jonesy takes a bow.

“Thank you, thank you,” he took the mic stand in hand, “We’re going to take a short break folks, so don’t go anywhere,” he winked at the audience.

The applause slowly died down to the normal chatter floating in the club as the band slowly moved off stage. Jonesy handed his trumpet over to one of the stage crew members before moving over to Vaggie and Baxter.

From the distance of the stage Jonesy looked a lot like Charlie’s ex-boyfriend, Seviathan. But now that he was closer the only thing they had in common was just coloring.

Jonesy was quite tall, almost as tall as Angel if not an inch or two shorter. He was dressed in a 1940s gangster suit with a matching hat, which covered his emerald green hair. No, it wasn’t hair, it was vines. In fact there were leaves and vines sticking out of his suit here and there, with what looked like Venus flytraps. His face is a light shade of green with yellow slit snake like eyes, with no nose, and an unnatural wide mouth that was smiling, showing off his needle like teeth that may look a little too big for his lips to hide.

“You must be the act tonight that Evelyn told me about,” said Jonesy.

“Yeah, that’s us,” said Vaggie, “I’m Vaggie, and this is Baxter.”

“Ah, pleasure to meet you, Vaggie,” Jonesy took her hand and kissed.

Vaggie yanked her hand back, glaring at him.

Jonesy just chuckled in good humor, unfazed by her cold treatment. 

He turned his attention to Baxter, “And you must be our pianos? I’m assuming?”

“Yes, I have brought in because you apparently are in need of my skills,” informed Baxter.

“That we do,” Jonesy agree, “I’ve been struggling to find a new pianist. Our last one, let’s just say, failed to follow the club rules,” Jonesy’s wide grin seem to grow even wider. That smile suddenly sent cold shivers down Vaggie and Baxter’s spines.

“Now then, if you follow me I will lead you to your dressing rooms,” said Jonesy, already leading the way.

Vaggie huffed, readjusting her guitar strap, she and Baxter followed Jonesy.

“Is this your first time preforming, sweetheart?” Jonesy asked Vaggie.

Vaggie glared at him a bit, “No, when I was alive I played in front of people.”

Jonesy hummed, “What about you short stack? You any good with an audience?”

“Of course I am! Who do you take me for!” said Baxter.

Jonesy chuckled.

They walked a little deeper back stage, away from the front, and out of the crews way, they came to a small section of doors. Jonesy opened the one closes to them and then stepped aside. 

“After you,” he bowed and grin to Vaggie.

Vaggie shot him a glare but entered the dressing room with Baxter.

The room was basically what you expect. There wasn’t anything fancy, just two large vanity mirrors, a small changing area with a hanging rack for clothes, and a nice large couch, just the basics that they will need.

“We’ve been practicing the last few days, making do with the missing parts that I’m sure you guys will cover. But we have it down to perfection, so it shouldn’t be too difficult,” Jonesy told them.

“Good,” Vaggie quickly hanged their clothes up before she turned to Jonesy with her guitar, “I just need to hook my guitar up to your system and tune it before the show.”

Jonesy nodded, “I’ll ask Bill to help you get set up. He’s the technician here.”

“What about the piano?” Baxter asked.

“It’s right behind the stage and ready to wheel out when we need to. You can get a quick feel for it if you want before we put it out,” Jonesy told him.

“Hm, yes it would be best I should do that,” answered Baxter.

“If that’s all, I’ll let you to get settled in,” Jonesy began to move out but suddenly stopped and faced Vaggie, “Oh that reminds me. I’ve noticed that you guys are short one. Evelyn said there would be three of you. And since you are both the musicians I would say that our star for the main show is missing? Where are they?”

“He’s running late,” Vaggie lied, “But he’ll be here shortly.”

“Good to hear. Because Evelyn would be very disappointed if the show didn’t go on, and if that happiness, well,” he chuckled lightly sending a dark look at them, “I would rather face the angels on extermination day then to be to be in your positions.”

Vaggie and Baxter paled.

“Well!” Jonesy’s smile brightens, “glad to have you here with us! I will see you two later on stage,” and with that, Jonesy left, shutting the door behind him, leaving Vaggie and Baxter alone in the room with a sense of dread.

* * *

The limo pulled right up front of The Fire Fox Club, allowing an usher to rush over and open the door.

Charlie was the first one out of limo, smiling brightly up at the club.

The building was so much livelier tonight then the last time she was here. So bright and colorful that is was very pleasing to the eye. Even the line to the club seemed to be longer as well, wrapping around the back of the building. 

A whistle from behind, made by Husk, as everyone pilled out of the limo and stood with Charlie on the sidewalk.

“Oh wow!” exclaimed Niffty, “Look at the line!”

“Thankfully we have invitations,” Alastor stated, walking up the steps.

Everyone followed Alastor up the stairs while Villa hanged back and picked up the rear. She quickly stopped and looked up and down the sidewalk, cradling her bag to her chest, in hopes that maybe she’ll catch sight of Angel.

“Come on Villa!” Charlie called from the doorway of the club.

Seeing everyone has already went inside Villa rushed up the stairs and joined Charlie as they both went in together.

The club tonight was defiantly decorated for tonight’s special event. The lobby was much more colorful, decorated in almost a Japanese décor with beautiful ikebana flower arrangements.

The others waited for Charlie and Villa to rejoin their group before Alastor, once again, led them to the hostess desk where Tilly sat.

“Welcome back again, sir. Would you like to be seat in the reservation balcony, or are you participating in tonight’s gamble,” Tilly asked.

“Gamble?” Charlie looked to Alastor.

“I am not, but I think some of my friends would,” Alastor told Tilly.

“Very good,” she moved from behind her desk to remove a red robe that was set up away from the main club, “If you have your coins, Evelyn will see you.” 

“Thank you, Tilly,” said Alastor before he walked forward.

“Thank you,” Charlie said to Tilly as she and everyone else quickly followed Alastor.

They followed the rope line that went into the main club a little bit, giving everyone a good view of what was happening tonight.

The place looked almost like a casino. The gambling section had spread out a little more, taking up some of the dining spots. The whole places was very much decorated like the front lobby, all in Japanese décor, ikebana arrangements, cherry blossom trees, and red and white paper lanterns with Japanese characters on them. In fact, upon closer to look, the lanterns seem to be floating in the air without strings or anything to hold them up.

“It’s so pretty!” Niffty exclaimed.

Crymini barely looked up from her phone, scuffing a little.

Villa watched a lantern drift close to her; she reached up to touch it.

“I would’t touch those,” Alastor told her.

Villa quickly pulled her hand away from them. If the Radio Demon warned her not to touch it, she’ll follow his advice. 

The red roped led them to a hidden corner of the club, almost another room tucked away. The room was large, and like the rest of the club it was also decorated in Japanese style. It actually almost looked like a Japanese garden with large cherry blossom trees, a fountain pond, and a large shrine that stood right behind Evelyn.

Evelyn looked as glamorous as she did the first time they met her in her beautiful black dress, standing beside a large wheel with two Japanese characters on it.

“What’s going on?” Charlie asked Alastor as they stood behind a demon that approached Evelyn, giving the exact same silver coin to her that they all received.

“This is a Fortune Night. A night of gamble and luck,” Alastor began to explain, “You see, Evelyn isn’t just a fox demon, she’s actually a Kitsune. Kitsunes are creatures of luck and fortune, that’s how Evelyn built her empire and established her rank as Overlord. While I reached my states with just sheer power just over night, Evelyn used her luck, as well as stolen luck from others, to reach hers. And in Hell, luck is what you need to survive down here. But while Evelyn can take your luck she can give you luck as well, which is the whole point of tonight. Just watch.”

Evelyn flipped the coin into the air, watching as it goes higher and higher until suddenly a burst of blue flames engulfed the coin until it disappeared. Once the flame disappeared, a demon dressed as one of the card dealers beside Evelyn, turned to the wheel and gave it one large spin. The demon in front of them stared at the spinning wheel with anxiously to the point he was sweating bullets. The wheel began to finally slow down to an almost agonizing pace until it finally landed on a red Japanese character.

“Ouch, tough luck,” Alastor quietly commented.

The demon’s face fell in terror while Evelyn simply smirk before raising her hand that was covered in blue flames, “I’m afraid it’s not your lucky night,” she said.

A small little orb of gold light suddenly shot out of the demons chest and went straight into Evelyn’s waiting hand, engulfed by blue flames.

“No, wait! Please, let me try again!” the demon pleaded.

Evelyn snapped her fingers, summoning two of her guards that stood on the side of the room, over to them. The two guards grabbed the struggling demon and dragged him out.

“What the fuck just happened?” it was Crymini that asked surprising, her phone lowered to her side.

“The poor fellow was unlucky and landed on the character,” Alastor pointed to the wheel, “of misfortune. He gambled his luck and lost.”

Their group was up next, coming up to Evelyn and the wheel.

“Alastor. So wonderful to see you here tonight. You don’t unusually come out for Fortune Night,” Evelyn smiled, offering her hand to him.

Alastor took it and kissed it, “Of course! You invited the hotel so I thought I come and show them the ropes of tonight.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Evelyn” said Charlie.

“Of course, dear,” said Evelyn, “Does anyone wish to give it a try?”

“After watching that poor bastard, no thanks,” Crymini frowned and turning back to her phone.

“So what is all this exactly?” asked Charlie.

“Well, Fortune Night is what it sounds like. Tonight is all about luck and fortune, you could either win it all or lose it,” Evelyn explained, and then holding a silver coin in her hand, the same one that Charlie and the others have, “With this coin you have a chance to increase your luck tonight and win big at the tables.”

Husk perked up at that.

“Or, you can be like Alastor here, and save your coins for a rainy day. You don’t have to cash them in tonight. But everyone does so anyways in order to win big cash,” she finished.

“But that other demon didn’t look happy,” said Niffty, “You took something from him, right?”

“I took his luck, because he unfortunately landed on the character for misfortune on the wheel. To gain luck it’s a fifty-fifty percent chance you will gain it or lose it, and the wheel will determined if you win or lose. But it’s only for a few hours,” Evelyn finish explaining.

“Sounds simple enough,” said Charlie, “I think I’ll pass though, not a big gambler.”

“I’ll do it,” declared Husk, “If I have a chance to win big tonight, I’ll do it.”

“You sure, Husk?” Charlie asked.

“Princess, I’ve been gambling for most of my life, and undead life. I know what I’m doing,” he told.

“Well, okay. Good luck, Husk,” said Charlie.

Husk stepped up to Evelyn, offering her his silver coin. She took it with a smile, flipping the coin up in the air as blue flames engulf it.

The demon beside the wheel gave it one big spin. Charlie, Niffty, and Villa watched the wheel spin intensively, while Alastor, Crymini, and Husk didn’t seem to care too much of where it landed.

The wheel began to slow down, going at an agonizing pace, slowly going over the fortune, misfortune, fortune, misfortune, fortune, until…

“Well done Husker boy!” said Alastor.

The wheel landed on fortune.

“Ha, knew it,” Husk smirked.

Evelyn chuckled with a smile, “It would seem fortune has smiled upon you. Now, just hold still.”

Evelyn’s hands were engulfed in blue flames as her eyes suddenly began glowing blue, as if they were on fire. Several tails suddenly appeared behind her, flickering around her, as Evelyn began to form a little gold ball of light in her hands and send it straight into Huck’s chest. Once the light entered his chest, Evelyn’s blue flames disappeared, along with all the extra tails, as her eyes return to normal.

“How do you feel, Husk?” Charlie was the one to ask first.

Husk poked at his chest, where the light disappeared, “Alright, I guess. I didn’t feel anything.”

“I want to try!” Niffty declared, rushing up front to Evelyn with her coin.

With everyone focus on Niffty’s turn at the wheel Villa took this moment to take a step back from everyone and quickly text Vaggie.

**We’re all here. Talking to Evelyn now.**

**Has Angel shown up yet?**

It didn’t take long for her to see that Vaggie was responding.

**-No-**

Villa frowned at that.

**-Still trying to get a hold of him. But he’s not answering-**

**-I’m starting to worry now-**

**-Is Alastor with you?-**

Everyone cheered behind Villa. She looked up to see that Niffty landed on fortune too.

**Yes, he’s here.**

**He almost stayed behind at the hotel to see if Angel would return, because Charlie was getting worried.**

**But I’ve convince them everything is fine, and got Alastor here.**

**-Good-**

“Villa, do you want to try. If not, we’re heading upstairs then,” Charlie asked her.

Villa shook her head, no.

“If you are all heading upstairs, please do something with Mimzy,” said Evelyn, “She’s been in such a grim mood all day that I can’t stand being around her.”

Charlie and Niffty frowned at her words. They were sure that they knew that Evelyn knew why Mimzy was upset.

“Then we should go put a smile on her face then if that is the case,” declared Alastor, “You’re never dress without one.”

Evelyn chuckled in amusement, “I’ll be up shortly to visit. I have little longer of this before I’m finish for the night.”

“If that’s all, I’m heading to the tables,” Husk suddenly declared and rushed out before anyone knew it.

“I’m hungry!” declared Niffty.

“I want a drink,” said Crymini.

“Follow me dears,” said Alastor as he lead the way.

As everyone followed Alastor out Villa hanged back and sent one more quick message to Angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jonesy's song is chattanooga choo choo by Glenn Miller.
> 
> We are getting to the real good stuff everyone, that I can't wait for all of you to read! Sorry this isn't the end I promise but we're almost finish!
> 
> To get the latest updates, follow me on Twitter.
> 
> https://twitter.com/whitewinds2


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The show must go on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally here folks! And I am tried.
> 
> This last chapter nearly killed me but I am surprise happy how it all turned out, which I think all of you will to.
> 
> If it's a little mess I apologize. But when chapters are this long for me it's hard to fix it up.

It was an hour until it was time for Angel to shoot the new film that Valentino put together for him.

The script was pretty much like the rest of his movies, all the same plot, or at least in those lines. There was no real creativity or outside of the box thinking for this one. In fact, Angel was kind of disappointed really. Even the musical number that he was allowed to have, it was only less than a minute for him to sing and that’s it.

The song he gets to sing kind of looked familiar to Angel, reading the lyrics in the script.

Curious, Angel brought his phone out and started to search for the song by using the lyrics. It didn’t take long for him to found it and played the song.

**~I am the Candyman**

**Coming from Bountyland**

**I am the Candyman**

**Coming from Bountyland!**

**I wish that you were my Lollipop**

**Sweet things, I will never get enough**

**If you show me to the sugar tree,**

**Will you give me a soda pop for free?~**

Angel groaned, stopping the song before it could play anymore. Now he remembered that song. That group was super popular in the 90s for that Barbie Girl song.

Valentino couldn’t be serious about this. That song was cute but it wasn’t really singing, at least not the way he wants to sing. But then again Valentino wasn’t really allowing him to sing at all in this film.

Angel could feel his heart plummeting at the realization that this is it for him. This is all that he’s good for and nothing else, that no one will see Angel anymore then a dirty slut that will jump on any offered dick to him.

What made him think he was anything more than that?

What made him think that anyone would think of him anymore than that?

What made him think that Alastor would see him more than that.

Alastor…

Mizmy’s confession killed Angel. It killed him even more when he heard her plans to confess to Alastor and realize how much it sounded like his. It was too similar. The only thing that was different between them was that Mimzy had a better chance at Alastor returning her feelings then his. They fit better, they complement one another. She was perfect for Alastor in ways than Angel could ever be.

She was talented, friendly, confident, and annoyingly sweet at times. Please she is a classy gal that knew what her worth is and went after anything she wanted.

Angel was none of those things, nor will he ever come close to her level.

His phone buzzed again in his hand, to see a new message from Villa.

He opened it, and read it.

**-Angel, I don’t know what to say to make you feel better right now. I don’t know what to do to help you. But I’m here for you if you need anything, and I would do anything to help you as well. But don’t push your friends away. We love and care about you so much. You are very talented, more than you think, and you should give yourself some credit, I mean it. We’re all at the club waiting for you. Please answer, or come. We’ll be here waiting for you with open arms.-**

Angel couldn’t help but smile a little at Villa’s message. As much as a weirdo she is, she’s actually an alright gal, and quite fun to be around. He kind of wondered when they actually started to become friends really, before they never really interacted with each other. But the last few days they’ve all been hanging out with each other so much he guess it just happened naturally.

His phone buzzed again and it was from an unknown number.

**-Dear Angel Dust, I do not know what is happening in your head right now, nor do I want to understand, not without the proper equipment that is. But from how stress Vaggie is from your sudden disappearance and lack of response, you must be feeling many negative emotions. We may not know each other that well, or really have much in common. But I will inform you that you are quite talented and surpassingly pleasant to work with. I feel it would actually be a real shame if you did not show up tonight and show these narrowed mined, one brain cell, buffoons here tonight how talented you are. Baxter.-**

Angel blinked in surprise, not expecting to receive a message from Baxter of all people. He must have gotten his number from Vaggie.

But to hear such nice things from the little gremlin was a little weird for Angel, but also nice. Baxter didn’t just give complements out to people unless he means it, which is almost never.

A new message came and it was from Vaggie.

**-Damn it, Angel! I don’t know what to do for you! Just answer your damn messages, for fuck sakes!... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on you. I know you are feeling hurt Angel, and believe me when I say I have been there before when I was alive, it hurts. But I’ve had friends to lean on and help me out when I was hurting. I want to be the person for you to lean on, I want to help you, and I know that Villa, and even Baxter, want to help you too. That’s why we are doing this show in the first place, to help you and achieve your dreams. I don’t care what people say about you Angel, I know you are more then what they think of you, I’ve seen. Even Villa and Baxter see it. Fuck, Evelyn probably sees it to if she even bothered to give you this opportunity. This is your chances to show everyone who you are, who you want to be. So don’t just do it for Alastor, do it for yourself Angel, you deserve it.-**

He deserves it, huh?

Do it for himself, huh?

* * *

Charlie and the others made it up to reserve area of the club to see that there were quite a few demons up here tonight. More than the last time they were here. Towards the back, where they sat last time, they could see a gloomy Mimzy slowly swooshing her drink. She perked up when she saw Charlie and the others slowly make their way to her table.

Niffty was first to rush over to Mimzy, giving her a quick hug.

“I’m so glad you all came. And Alastor, I surprise you are here,” said Mimzy.

“Of course, dear Mimzy. The hotel was invited so I thought I come along as well tonight,” said Alastor.

“Please sit everyone. Sit, sit,” Mimzy gestured to her table, moving to allow everyone a place to sit.

Everyone seated at the table, scooching in as best they could. Villa was the last one to take her seat, quickly noting that somehow Charlie and Niffty must have arranged for Alastor to sit beside Mimzy. She frowned a little at that.

“Is anyone hungry?” Mimzy asked.

“I am a little hungry,” said Charlie.

“I guess I could eat,” grumbled Crymini.

Villa nodded in agreement.

“Let’s take care of that,” said Mimzy, waving over the waiter that was waiting on the side.

The waiter moved towards Mimzy’s table, “How may I help you, madam?”

“Bring out five of tonight’s specials, as well as French bread and the best red wine,” she ordered.

The waiter nodded and left.

“That’s quite generous of you, Mimzy. I don’t want us to impose on you,” said Charlie,

Crymini snorted, “Not me. You dragged me out here so I better get the best.”

“Crymini!” Charlie scolded her.

She simply rolled her eyes at Charlie.

“Sorry about her, Mimzy,” Charlie apologized.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I honestly don’t mind treating all of you,” said Mimzy, “I assume that you went to see Evelyn already. Did any of you cash in her coins?” Mimzy asked.

“Husk did,” answered Charlie.

“I did too!” declared Niffty, “I’m lucky now!”

“Then Niffty you need to go downstairs right away and put that luck to use, you could win big,” Mimzy told her.

“I don’t quite understand the whole point of this night. It sounds like how many people are ended up lucky, they could clean the tables out,” Charlie wonder.

“It’s true, Charlie dear,” Alastor answered, “But as I mention before, that luck is only limited.”

“Alastor’s right. It doesn’t last long and the people that are luck and gamble with it usually end up to greedy that they forget it’s only temporary and then loose it all,” Mimzy finished explaining.

“I guess that makes sense,” muttered Charlie.

“I’ll hit the tables then and see what my new luck can do,” Niffty stood up from her seat and grab Charlie’s arm, “You should come to Charlie.”

Niffty’s kept pointing over to Mimzy and Alastor with her eye, hinting that they should leave Alastor and Mimzy alone. Charlie immediately picked up on what Niffty was hinting.

“Sure, that sounds like fun, Niffty. Crymini, Villa, let’s go down stairs and check things out,” said Charlie.

“Fine,” Crymini stood up, not looking up from her phone.

Villa stood up to allow Charlie, Crymini, and Niffty out but sat back down.

“Come on, Villa let’s go,” said Niffty, bouncing in place.

“I’ll be fun downstairs,” said Charlie.

Villa could see what they were doing, and she sadly couldn’t let their plan work. She had a mission to follow through, and Vaggie would be mad at her if something did happened on her watch. No, she needs to make sure everything goes according to their plan.

She gestured to them that she’ll stay because her head hurts a little bit and all the noise and lights down their will make it worse. She felt a little bad for the unset look that Charlie was giving her.

“Well, if you are not feeling okay then,” said Charlie.

Villa smiled sadly at her.

Charlie, Crymini, and Niffty slowly left, disappearing down the stairs.

Villa sighed in relief, turning back to only be startled by the intense look Alastor was giving her.

Shit, he knew something was up

* * *

Valentino was talking to the director about their newest film that they will be shooting in forty minutes, going over what Valentino waited, when a loud commotion from outside the set caught their attention.

“Where’s Valentino! I demand to see him!” came a shout.

Soon, Angel’s client, the rat demon, from a few nights ago, came bursting into the set, going straight for Valentino.

“I demand my money back!” yelled the rat demon.

Valentino glared at the rat demon. If there was one thing that Valentino hated, it was losing money, especially to slim like this.

“You want your money back? What makes you think you will get it,” challenged Valentino.

“Your whore ripped me off! What kind of fucking business are you running here?” The rat demon yelled.

“That’s a big claim you are making there, bub. I would be careful about throwing false claims around if I were you. I know for a fact Angel Dust follows through on his work,” Valentino calmly answered, “I’m feeling generous today so I’m willing to forgive and forget if you kindly see yourself out.”

“Not without my refund, and…” the rat demon reached into his back pocket to pull out a dvd, “I have the proof that I ain’t lying. This footage is from the club that I got, suspecting that the date didn’t go as I thought it would. And sure enough, your whore skipped out!”

Now Valentino was a little curious.

Before the rat demon could argue some more, Valentino swiped the dvd from his hand before he even realize what happened.

“I’ve tried to be generous but now my mood is ruin,” Valentino said, snapping his fingers.

The security in the room quickly came rushing over, grabbing hold of the rat demon as they dragged him away, kicking and screaming. Once the rat demon was gone, and possibly out of the building, Valentino moved over to the control panel of the set and popped the dvd in. The screen came to life, showing the inside of a club, mostly at the bar, where Valentino could see Angel and rat demon sitting at, talking.

So far in the video Valentino didn’t see anything wrong. Angel was cozying up to the rat demon, his best flirtatious smile on his face, stroking his arm seductively. The rat demon looked please, buying them drinks as he leaned in closer to Angel. Valentino fast forward the part of them talking some more until he stopped when he noticed the rat demon getting up and leave for a moment. Angel turned and watched him leave for a moment until the rat demon was gone from sight. Once he was Angel’s smile dropped as he turned to the bartender and ordered another round of drinks. As the drinks were being made Valentino noticed Angel was getting quite fidgety and kept looking to where the rat demon disappeared to, almost afraid he was going to show up. The bartender gave Angel their drinks. Angel paid him before sending the bartender away to help another customer. Once the bartender was away from Angel, his back to him, Angel pulled out a little blue plastic bag from his chest fluff and poured the constants into a drink and stirred it until it disappeared. As soon as Angel finished the rat demon came back and Angel greeted him with his flirtatious smile, sliding the drink he stirred to the rat demon.

Valentino started to see red as he fast forward the video, watching them finish their drinks, getting up and walking out. The video cut to the back ally, to see Angel and the rat demon emerge from the club. The rat demon started to look quite unsteady on his feet, trying to walk towards Angel’s direction. Before he could touch Angel his legs finally gave out from under him, collapsing in front of Angel. Slowly Angel moved towards the rat demon, looking to check over him, even kneeling down beside him and shaking his shoulder. But the rat demon remained unmoved, most likely unconscious. Angel quickly looked around the ally before he picked up the rat demon and hauled him over to the wall of the build and laid him against it. Angel unbuckled the rat demon’s pants and pulled out his dic. Angel then reached into his pocket and pulled a little tube bottle and sprayed it all over the rat demon. Once finished Angel adjusted his jacket and walked out of the camera view.

Valentino slammed his fist against the controls, scaring the crew before he stormed out and made his way to Angel’s room.

That little fuck! He knew there was something up!. And for Angel to lie to him about why he wasn’t doing his job made him grid his teeth.

Angel’s dressing room was in front of him before he knew it, bursting in.

“Angel!” he yelled.

But he was greeted with emptiness.

* * *

“I wonder what’s taking Vaggie so long,” asked Charlie, checking her phone for the fifth time.

“I’m sure she will be here soon, sweetie. Try not to worry and eat,” said Mimzy, starting to eat her own food.

“If she said she’ll be here, she will. She ain’t the type of person not to show when she said she will,” Husk added his two cents, eating his food as fast as he could, surrounded by mountains of chips.

“You seem to be making quite the killing tonight, Husker old boy,” said Alastor, taking a sip of his wine.

“And I need,” chew, “to finish as soon,” chew, “as I can, before,” chew, “my lucky streak,” chew, “runs out,” Husk answered between bites.

“You didn’t do too bad yourself, Niffty,” Mimzy noticed the small single tower of chips that Niffty had.

“Yeah! It was fun!” declared Niffty, “But I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.”

Husk made a grunting sound, rolling his eyes.

Alastor gave him a look that told him ‘leave her be’

“Kind of wish I gave it a try now,” muttered Crymini, face still buried in her phone.

Villa took a couple of bites of her food, not feeling all that hungry as she kept looking at the clock. There was only forty minutes left before the show.

“Oh! Vaggie answered me!” Charlie brighten, catching Villa’s attention, “She said that something came up so she and Baxter are going to be a little later then they thought. But will definitely be here,” Charlie’s expression dropped.

“Don’t worry, Charlie dear. She’ll be here. You just need to be patient,” said Alastor.

“I guess so,” Charlie pouted a little.

“Ugh, that took longer than I would have liked.”

Suddenly Evelyn appeared, looking a little weary and annoyed as she took a seat at their table, after the waiter brought over a chair for her.

“Many cashed in this evening?” Mimzy asked Evelyn.

“Yes,” Evelyn answered, just as the waiter brought over a glass of wine for her, “Took a little more energy than I expected to tonight, but its good business at least. Now I can relax and let fortune do the rest,” she took a long sip of her wine before speaking again, “Everyone enjoying themselves tonight?”

“I am!” said Niffty.

Crymini shrugged.

“Yes, thank you again for inviting us! It’s been fun,” said Charlie.

Evelyn nodded, eyeing the large piles around Husk.

“You seem to be putting that good luck to good use,” she stated.

“I’ve always been naturally lucky,” Husk chugged down his drink, “but I’m not going to pass on an opportunity to increase that luck.”

Evelyn hummed, “Well, you better use it as soon as possible before it expires.”

A large cry of distress came from down below.

“Speaking of which,” Evelyn said, smiling in amusement as she tried to peer down below.

At one of the carp’s tables, a demon lost all of his large winning as their piles of chips were taken away from them.

“No! I was cheated!” exclaimed the demon.

“Sorry, sir. But you know the rules and risks,” said the craps dealer.

Behind the demon, two of the floating lanterns started to drift down lower behind him.

“Fucking bullshit! That’s my money; I’m not giving it up!” the demon yelled.

“Sir, you need to calm down and leave,” the dealer asked calmly, not fazed at the fact that two lanterns were now hovering right behind the demon. Other demons, in fact, seemed to back away from the lanterns as quickly as possible.

“Not without my fucking money,” yelled the demon, reaching for his chips.

Before he could even touch one chip the two lanterns burst into blue flames as eyes and sharp teeth manifested and started attacking the demon. The poor demon could only scream in pain as the lantern monster mauled him into security arrived and hauled the bloody mangled demon out of the club.

Alastor and Evelyn laughed in amusement at what took place, while everyone, save for Mimzy, seemed to stare, horrified at what just took place.

“Did that poor bastard get torn to shreds by paper lanterns?” Crymini was the one to ask, still in shock.

“I… what?” as all Charlie could get out.

“They are Evelyn’s pets,” Mimzy told her.

“They’re Chōchin-obake,” said Evelyn, whistling to a white one that was closest them.

Instantly the lantern quickly came at her call as blue flames appeared as it formed a mouth and eyes. Now much closer they could see it’s large wild bloodshot eyes, blue flames coming out of corners of those eye, with a wide large mouth with some wicked looking teeth.

The lantern hovered close to Evelyn.

“Chōchin-obake are only allowed to roam free here on Fortune Night, attacking anyone that they deemed to greed for their liking, which you just witness. They basically act like extra security,” explained Mimzy.

“And quite nasty little things too,” Alastor added.

“They’re just feisty, that’s all,” said Evelyn, cooing at the Chōchin-obake that looked quite happy with the attention it was receiving.

She gave the Chōchin-obake one more scratch under the chin before sending it back off to the other Chōchin-obake floating through the club.

“So Evelyn, what kind of entertainment did you get tonight? I bet they aren’t as good as Mimzy,” asked Charlie.

Mimzy blushed, “Charlie.”

“Yes, what is this about getting an act tonight other than Mimzy, I’ve heard,” asked Alastor, “That’s quite unlike you, Evelyn. Especially on a big night like this.”

“Mimzy is amazing!” added Niffty.

Villa looked to Charlie and Niffty, feeling quite annoyed. If only they knew that they were really dissing Angel, they might have changed their tune. It almost bothered her that even Alastor was starting to join in too.

Evelyn smiled into her glass, “Oh, I think all of you might be pleasantly surprised.”

Alastor looked at Evelyn in the eye, and she looked right back at him.

“Mimzy,” she started, “why don’t you take everyone downstairs and show them the cherry blossom tree we have from the world of the living.”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea. You girls must see it! It’s beautiful. Evelyn always makes it blossom during Fortune Night,” said Mimzy.

“Sure. I’ve never seen one before,” said Charlie.

“I haven’t seen one in forever,” said Niffty, who was already out of her seat, bouncing in place.

“Husk-“ Charlie turned to see Husk and his hoard already gone.

“He left after witnessing the attack,” Alastor told her, “The old boy must have gotten motivated at that.”

“Come on, Charlie!” Niffty called from the top of the stairs where they waited for Charlie.

“Coming!” Charlie quickly rushed after them dodging a waiter.

Mimzy giggled, “Don’t rush sweet, we’ll wait for you.”

“Sorry, just excited is all,” Charlie followed everyone down the stairs.

“Why are we seeing some fucking tree,” grumbled Crymini.

“Oh, come on, Crymini. How often do we see things from the world of the living?” asked Charlie.

“Cherry blossoms are beautiful!” added Niffty.

“Whatever,” Crymini focused on her phone.

“So Mimzy,” Charlie quickly rushed to her side when they reached the bottom of the stairs, “Have you had a chance to talk to Alastor tonight?”

Niffty perked up and rushed to Mimzy’s other side, “Have you told him yet?”

“Oh girls,” Mimzy blushed, “I haven’t found the right time to tell him yet. It has to be the perfect moment after all, which is why I hoped to perform tonight.”

From behind the group, Villa picked up the rear again, as well as growing annoyed with this conversation.

“Well, if you want. Niffty and I will help you find the perfect time to do so,” said Charlie.

“Yes! Just let us know,” Niffty agreed.

“I will think about it,” said Mimzy, “but first the tree. It’s this way,” Mimzy lead them into the main part of the club.

Charlie began to follow when she noticed that Villa had stopped a few feet away, looking at her phone.

“You okay, Villa?” she asked.

Villa looked a little started, looking up to Charlie. She smiled at her, gesturing she was fine.

“Alright, let’s go-“

Villa cut Charlie off, gesturing she needed to use the little girls’ room.

“Oh! Yeah sure. Catch up with us when you are done,” said Charlie.

Villa nodded, watching Charlie disappear from sight before she made a beeline for the backstage.

* * *

“You know something,” was the first thing that Alastor said once Charlie and the others are gone.

Evelyn smiled coyly, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“My dear, we have known each other for so long know. I think we can tell when the other is keeping secrets and not sharing,” said Alastor, “In fact, it honestly hurts my feelings, Evelyn,” he took a sip of his drink.

“Hmm,” she responded, taking a small piece of meat off of Crymini’s plate and threw it to a white chōchin-obake, who happy caught it.

Alastor narrowed his eyes.

“You seriously are not going to tell me, are you,” he stated more then asked.

“It would ruin the surprise if I did, and where would the fun be in that,” she gave him a fake pout that didn’t last for long before it morphed back into a smile.

“Very well,” said Alastor, leaning back in his seat, “is this by chance something I might enjoy, or detest? Whatever it is you are keeping from me.”

“Depends,” she answered slowly, studying Alastor.

“Depends on what?”

“… if what I think is correct. That and what Rosie has informed me the other day,” Evelyn answered carefully.

“Now you are just teasing me my dear.”

Evelyn smirked.

Alastor smirked back.

“But,” she picked up her drink, “This is all in theory. I’m just going off on my hunch. And if my hunch is correct, well, that’s up to you on where it goes.”

“Now you have me worried,” said Alastor, calling the waiter order for another drink.

“I don’t think you need to worry too much, just be prepared is all,” she said.

Alastor hummed, watching the waiter clean their table quick before fetching them another round of drinks.

“I do have a question for you, Alastor,” asked Evelyn.

He looked to her.

“When do you plan to stop pulling Mimzy’s feelings along? I am growing tired of her moping around here. That girl is too much of an open book,” said Evelyn.

“Ah, that,” Alastor shifted his seat, uncomfortably.

“She’s been fawning over you for so long, it’s just exhausting to watch that I am at the point my patients has almost run out,” said Evelyn.

The waiter returned with their drinks, Evelyn a merlot and a fine brandy for Alastor.

Evelyn took a quick sip of her wine, “But she’s my underling, and I watch out for my people. And I don’t want her to get her hopes up for nothing, Alastor. I don’t want you to hurt her.”

“I understand, Evelyn dear,” Alastor took a sip of his brandy, “I’ve always had a soft spot for Mimzy, but not in a romantic way. I plan to speak with her very soon, and let her down gently.”

“Good.”

* * *

Vaggie was pacing around the dressing room, dressed in her gown that Alastor gave her the first day he arrived at the hotel, only this time she wore a black suit jacket and a matching men’s hat with it. Her hair was pulled into a low bun that was messy but fashionable.

From the side, Baxter watched Vaggie paced back and forth, dressed quite sharp in a his navy blue suit with a black tie.

They go on in thirty minutes now and Angel was still a no show, they were running out of time.

Vaggie was getting nervous.

“Where the Hell is he,” she muttered, checking her phone, possibly for the millionth time today, “I’m going to try to call him again.”

“You’ve done nothing but call him all day,” said Baxter, “Vaggie, at this point it’s pointless to call when he’s not going to answer.”

“Then what am I supposed to do!?” She yelled.

Before Baxter could answer, a knock came at the door, before it open and in came Jonesy.

“So, we already to go?” he asked with a wide smile, “You guys got your sound checks finished?”

“Yes, we just did it a minute ago,” Vaggie answered, quickly glancing down at her phone.

“Splendid! Now we need to do a quick little mic check. Where’s our star for the night?” Jonesy asked looking around for Angel Dust.

“Oh um, yes Angel,” Vaggie hesitated, “Well, he’s… still not here yet.”

Jonesy’s smile dropped, raising a brow, “Not here yet?”

“Yes, he’s running behind, lost track of time really. I’ve texted him a few times,” she said.

Behind her Baxter snorted, earning a quick glare from Vaggie.

“I see,” Jonesy said slowly, staring Vaggie down, “Well, I do hope he shows up in the next thirty minutes.”

“He will,” said Vaggie.

“He better. Because either way doll face,” Jonesy leaned down to Vaggie’s level staring her straight in the eye with a wide sinister grin, “There’s going to be a show tonight, whether Angel Dust is here or not, and it better be a big hit. You know why?”

Vaggie gulped, “No, why?”

“Because Evelyn expects it to be a big hit. And if it’s not, that makes her unhappy, and if she’s unhappy then I am unhappy. And it’s my job to make sure the boss stays happy and to correct the problems that make her unhappy. Understand,” said Jonesy.

Vaggie quickly nodded.

“Good!” Jonesy stood up straight, his wide smile more cheerful, “I’ll be back to check on you before we go on.”

With one last flash of his large smile, Jonesy left the dress rooming, shutting the door behind him, leaving a terrified Vaggie and Baxter behind. Once Jonesy was gone Vaggie let out a large breath that she didn’t realize she was holding in, her legs suddenly feeling weak.

“What the fuck do we do now!?” exclaimed Baxter.

“I don’t know!” said Vaggie.

Shit! The worst case scenario has happen! They’re totally fucked.

“Why did I ever agree to do this!” said Baxter, burying his face into the palms of his hands, “No lab is worth the wrath of an Overlord!”

“Shut up! Let me think!” yelled Vaggie.

God what do they do now? They’re in a really bad spot.

If it came down to it Vaggie will just have to sing instead of Angel, something she wasn’t really looking forward to. She was an okay singer but she rather just stay in the background with her guitar then stand up front of the audience and sing. Just thinking about it made her feel sick. Plus, if she did sing she had to make sure it was great in order to stay out of the firing rage of an angry Overlord. Running wasn’t an option either. Evelyn knew where they lived and would surely cause trouble for Charlie and the hotel. Vaggie doubt that Alastor would be so willing to fend her off in order to save the hotel. Knowing him he may just step back and watch Evelyn burn the place to the ground. There was no way that Vaggie was going to allow that to happen. She rather die again then to see Charlie and her dreams be crushed. So far.

“Baxter, grab the sheet music for me. I need to study the lyrics real quick,” ordered Vaggie.

Baxter blinked in surprise, “You can’t possibly be serious.”

“Well, what should I do? We are running out of choices here and the only thing that I can think of that will allow us to come out of this somewhat alive it to sing in Angel’s place!” Vaggie huffed and puff.

“But can you actually sing?” Baxter question, looking very concern.

“Kind of.”

“What do you mean kind of!?”

“I can do it. Just get the fucking music, Baxter. I have to sing!” she yelled.

“You can actually sing, toots? I like to see that.”

Vaggie froze for moment before turned around to see Angel Dust standing in the door.

“Sorry I’m late,” said Angel, shifting from one foot to the other, feeling suddenly awkward.

Vaggie rushed to Angel and punched him.

“OW! What the fuck was that for!” he yelled.

“For not answering any of my messages and for being late you asshole!” she yelled.

“Well sorry! I-“ Angel suddenly fell quite when Vaggie began to hug him.

“You dumb asshole,” she grumbled into his chest, “You really had me worried there. I was afraid you went and did something stupid and somehow got yourself killed.”

Angel remain still, staring down at the top of Vaggie’s head with his hands in the air, not sure what to do. In the corner of his eye he noticed that Baxter got up from the couch and standing behind Vaggie, looking as awkward as Angel was feeling but looking relieved as well.

Not sure what else to do Angel lowered his hands and carefully hugged Vaggie back.

“Sorry to make you worry, I guess,” he said slowly.

Vaggie slowly pulled away, whipping her eyes.

 _‘Was she crying? For me?’_ he thought, shocked that Vaggie was actually crying.

“You’re here now, safe, so that’s all that matters,” she sniffed a little.

“We were very concern you would not show up,” said Baxter.

“Where have you been?” Vaggie asked, “We’ve been worried sick.”

“I’ve been at the porn studio,” Angel answered, moving towards the the couch, sitting down.

Vaggie felt like slapping herself for that one. Why didn’t she check there first?

“I’ve been catching up on work I’ve been falling behind on. Val’s been running ragged,” said Angel, “I’ve… actually skipped out on a film I’m supposing to be doing right now.”

“And he let you leave to be here?” she asked.

“He doesn’t know I left,” he confessed.

Vaggie was a little surprise to hear that. From what she understood about Valentino, skipping out on work was something he does not put up with.

“Angel, are you going to be okay?” she couldn’t help but asked.

“Honestly, no. But even if I do stay he’ll probably beat the crap out of me anyway. He almost came close to it already from the complaints of my Johns. It won’t take him to long to figure it out that I’ve been lying about my work and right at his face too. Oh god, I’m going to die a second time. He wont let me live after this!” Angel began to panic as he closed in on himself.

“He’s hyperventilating,” stated Baxter, noticing Angel quickly spiraling, “You need to calm him,” he told Vaggie.

“Angel, it’s okay,” Vaggie was immediately in front of Angel, kneeling down in front of him with his lower set of hands in hers, “It’s okay; it’s going to be okay. Just breathe with, okay. Breath in.”

Together they took a breathed in and out, in and out, in and out, until finally Angel calmed down.

“You alright now?” she asked.

He nodded, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good, know,” Vaggie said gently, “Do you want to tell me what’s going on. You left the hotel without a word to anyone yesterday.”

“I don’t really want to say,” Angel looked away.

“Is it because of what Mimzy told Charlie? About Alastor?” Vaggie asked.

“You know about that?”

“I love Charlie, but that girl is terrible at secret keeping.”

“You don’t need to remind me. I told you that the first time.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry Angel. I told Charlie not to bring Mimzy around-“

“Hey, hey it’s not your fault. I know you tired and I appreciate it. There was no way that either of us knew it would turn out like this,” said Angel, slumping against the couch, “Vaggie, I don’t think we should do this… do the show.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

“You cannot possibly be serious,” said even Baxter.

“Angel, you worked so hard for this,” said Vaggie, “Why do you want to throw it all away?”

“Because Mimzy was going to do the very same thing!” Angel yelled, on the verge of tears, “She was going to put on a big show to impress Alastor and then tell him her feelings for him! It’s my plan that she was going to do!”

“Angel-“ Vaggie started but was cut off.

“And the worst part of it, Vaggie. She even said that Alastor liked her back!” now he was crying, “How do I compete with that. Fuck! How could I be so stupid! I’m not good enough for him and never will be. When did I have to start drugging my johns for him, knowing Valentino will kill me if I did?”

“What?” Vaggie asked.

But Angel didn’t hear her.

“Mimzy is so much better for him; she’s perfect for him in every way. While I’m just some useless stupid whore that all of Hell as basically fucked twice, with nothing to offer! I’m not good enough for anyone. I’m just useless like pops said I was, and only good for fucking like Val said. I’m nothing I-“

Slap!

The sound echoed throughout the whole room

Angel stared up at Vaggie, shocked, cradling his red cheek where Vaggie slapped.

Baxter remained quiet on the sidelines, just as shock as Angel.

Vaggie on the other hand remained calm, lowering her hand to her hip before she stared Angel down.

“You listen to me and you listen good,” she firmly began, “You are fucking Angel Dust. You are Hell’s number one bitch, do you know why? Because no one dares fucks with you, not Mimzy, not Valentino, not even Alastor! You are the baddest badass bitch I’ve ever met in Hell, who doesn’t take crap from anyone that’s under your boot, especially their criticism,” Vaggie’s face softens as well as her voice, “You are so much more then what everyone says you are, Angel. I see that, Charlie see it too. Hell even Villa see it, as well as Baxter.”

Baxter remained quiet but nodded in agreement with Vaggie, smiling a little.

Vaggie kneeled down in front of Angel, smiling, “Angel, you are so talented. The last few days I’ve seen that talent grow into something special. You are a great singer, no matter what anyone else says, and you deserve to show off that amazing talent to everyone, even those that doubt you. You are more than a whore, Angel. You are you.”

“I am me?” Angel said slowly.

Vaggie nodded, “Yeah, you are you. Now are you ready to show everyone in Hell what you got in here?” she pointed to his heart.

Angel looked down to his chest; bring a hand up to his chest.

“Well?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Vaggie,” Angel whispered, looking to her, “I’m scared.”

“Don’t’ be,” Vaggie took his lower set of hands in hers again, gently squeezing them, “I’m right here with you.”

“Me to,” added Baxter, stepping up beside Vaggie with a shy smile.

Vaggie smiled at Baxter before looking to Angel, “We’re right here with you.”

“But what if I’m not good enough, though. What if I mess up and bomb,” asked Angel.

“Are you kidding!”

Angel, Vaggie, and Baxter jumped a bit at the sudden screech behind them, looking to the door to see Villa standing there.

“You’ve got to me fucking with me right now. You are amazing Angel with a gorgeous voice to go with a gorgeous face that people will kill for, and trust me I know,” Villa walked in, jabbering away, “Because I knew this one girl here in Hell, totally a bitch by the way, but she was like my roommate at the time so I had to put with her just to have a roof over my head. Anyways, she was like totally jealous of this one girl in our building because she was a much better singer then her and people paid like top dollar to see her preform and junk.”

Villa continued to talk and talk, oblivious to the three shock demons as they stared at her.

“Of course, my bitch of a roommate wanted to up one on her and tried to put on a concert, which she totally bombed by the way, and only half of the audience was filled, which I’m pretty sure she bribed them. Talk about desperate if you ask me. And after the show she was so unbearable to be around, whining and complaining about this and that, about how it went wrong, and the assholes that-“

“You can fucking talk!?” Vaggie yelled, in shock.

Villa blinked, “Of course I can you silly,” she said.

“B-B-But…” Vaggie tried to form words, but she was lost in her shock.

“We thought you were a fucking mute!” said Angel.

“Nah, I just try not to talk too much, because once I do I get on a real roll and it’s hard to stop talking, which I’ve tried and failed by the by. That’s why I can never have roommates for very long, let alone friends because I can really talk their ears off. My last roommate before I went to the hotel actually kicked me out because I really drove them up the wall to the point of insanity, or something. But I didn’t like them that much anyway, so you could say-“

“Villa!” Vaggie interrupted her. Geez this girl really can talk.

“Sorry,” said Villa.

“How did you even get back here without a backstage pass?” Baxter asked her.

“Simple,” Villa pulled a backstage pass out of her bag, “I used Angel’s.”

“What?” Vaggie rushed over to her bag and looked through inside. And sure enough she only found two passes instead of three.

“I figured Angel couldn’t get in without it anyway, and I was sure you told security to be on the lookout for Angel since he didn’t have it. And by the looks of it my hunch was correct. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier but it-“

“It’s okay, Valla,” she cut Villa off, “It’s fine.”

“But as I was saying before,” Villa looked to Angel, “Angel you are a really good singer, and I really do mean it. And I’ve seen a lot of preferences in both my time as alive and dead. You were made to be a singer, Angel. You have what it takes to be great so don’t be so hard on yourself. I wish, if not all of us wish, that you would see that for yourself.”

“See Angel. Villa knows you are great,” said Vaggie, “We all know you are great, and we’ll be here right behind you, supporting you. Because we all believe in you.”

“Really?” Angel asked in shock.

“Of course, you idiot, we’re your friends,” Vaggie smiled.

With a sigh, Angel stood up from the couch, hands on his hips and smirk in place.

“Well, I guess we’ve got a show to put on. Huh, toots,” said Angel.

Vaggie smiled, happy to see the old Angel back.

Villa squealed loudly beside Baxter, making the poor guy wince.

“Oh my god, this going to be so awesome!” Villa declared, rushing over to the vanity and placed her bag down, “Just so you know, I kind of grabbed some stuff from your room since we didn’t know where you were, or going to make it on time, so I grabbed whatI thought you would need, Oh, and your pig is the cutest thing that I’ve ever seen, I’ve been taking care of him for you by the by, but I got some of your make up and a couple of your wigs, which I thought would be best for tonight. I also want to ask you what’s with that purple one you have, it smells weird, you should really consider throwing it out. I really debated on what to get-“

A loud bag at the door cut Villa off, followed by a shout.

“Angel!

Angel frozen in place.

“I know you are fucking in there! Come on out!”

“Oh fuck,” Angel whispered under his breath, “No, no, no!”

“What, what’s wrong?” Vaggie asked.

“It’s Franky,” Angel whispered, looking around the room frantically, looking for a way out.

“Who’s Franky?” Baxter asked, jumping before another bag came from the door.

“He’s Valentino’s top goon. He retrieves us when we don’t return from a job or skip out on work!” Angel started to hyperventilate again, “Fuck! He knows I left! That means he knows what I did, or is going to know!”

“Angel calm down,” Vaggie told him, “What do you mean he knows what you did? You mention something like that already?”

Angel hesitated before he answered her, “I may have been… drugging my Johns.”

That wasn’t what Vaggie expected to hear.

“Wait, is that what you’ve been doing with my 7732G1 pouches?” Baxter suddenly asked.

“You knew about this?” Vaggie asked Baxter.

“No,” he answered, “He just required a sedative power, that’s all.”

“You’ve been selling drugs to a drug addict at the Happy Hotel!?” she growled.

“I relax, Vags. It’s not like that. I just…,” Angel trailed off, “I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

“What do you mean you can’t do it anymore? Do what?” she focused on him.

“I don’t know what changed, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. Taking care of my Johns, clients. It’s been like that for a few months now. Maybe it’s because I started to like Alastor, or just I can’t do it anymore…” Angel started crying, “I just, I-“

“its okay, Angel,” Vaggie assured him, placing a hand on his upper arm, “You don’t have to explain yourself. And I think I understand what you are saying, Angel. And I’m happy you told me.”

Angel wiped his eyes, “Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad? Angel, you have made great progress already, and you don’t even realize it.”

“I have?”

“Yes. You are becoming a better person that we knew you could be, I’m proud of you.”

“You are?”

Vaggie nodded.

Angel smiled at her before it was cleaned off when the door to the dressing room broke down and a large demon came through.

Angel shrunk back at the large orange demon, Franky, stepped through. Vaggie quickly stood in front of Angel, spear in her hand, as she glared the demon down. Even Villa and Baxter quickly rushed over and stood behind Vaggie, protecting Angel from Franky.

Franky was a demon of all muscles and towered all four of them as he glared down at them behind his sunglasses.

“Angel Dust,” his voice was deep and rough, sending shivers down Angel’s spine but not in a good way, “Boss wants you back, ASAP.”

Franky made a move to grab him but was stopped by Vaggie, aiming her spear right at his face.

“You’re not taking him anywhere!” she declared.

“Out of way, this business doesn’t concern you,” said Franky.

“The Hell it does,” Vaggie hissed.

Villa growled at Franky, pulling Angel close to her while Baxter tried to stand in front of them to shield them from Franky. Too bad he was too short to hide them properly.

“Angel Dust is a resident of the Happy Hotel. And since I’m the manager of the hotel, it is my fucking business when it comes to him,” Vaggie declared, standing her ground.

Vaggie was tough, and knew how to wield a blade. She managed just fine here in Hell before she met Charlie so she knew how to fend for herself. But Franky was a large demon that looked to be built like a mountain. And from what she understands, and what Angel’s told her, this guy will not go down easy.

Franky took a step forward, causing Vaggie’s stance to tense, shifting her feet to prepare to attack.

“Oh my, we have quite a party in here it would seem,” came a new voice from behind Franky.

Vaggie looked around Franky’s giant form, to the door, and froze in shock ay who stood there.

Rosie smiled, standing in the doorway, holding a garment bag in her hand as she took the scene in.

“Oh my,” she stepped in, eyeing Franky who was tense at the sight of Rosie, “It would seem I have interrupted something.”

The room remained silent for a moment before Angel was the one to break it, “… No, you’re not interrupting at all.”

“I see,” Rosie moved to the hangers in the corner of the room, hanging the garment bag, “it would seem I have come at the right time then,” she then turned to face Franky, who tensed up.

Vaggie remained quiet as she watched Rosie stare Franky down. Rosie was a low-key Overlord, never one to make a big show of anything like some of the other Overlords here in Hell. But she was still an Overlord, and one to be feared.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Franky carefully said, “I’m here on orders by Valentino to retrieve Angel Dust. Let me grab the bitch and I will be on my way.”

Rosie didn’t reply but watched as she noticed that Vaggie, Baxter, and Villa all tense around Angel, ready to protect him from Franky.

“Valentino you say?” Rosie began slowly, eyeing Franky, “I’m surprise to hear that Valentino sent you here to get Angel Dust. I didn’t know that Evelyn has made up with him! Shame on her for not informing on such big gossip!” she laughed.

“The boss hasn’t from what I know,” Franky corrected her.

“Oh?” Rosie stopped laughing, still smiling; “Really now. So you are trespassing on another Overlord’s territory. Naught, naughty.”

“I’m not trespassing as you say, boss is here too,” said Franky.

Angel stiffened up in Villa’s arms.

Valentino was here?

“And he thought he could waltz right in because his property is here, and do as he pleases,” said Rosie.

“Technically-“

“Let me make things clear,” Rosie continued, stepping towards Franky, forcing him to take a step back, “Despite what your boss may believe, with his property involved doesn’t always give him rights to go where he pleases.”

“Yes well,-“

“Valentino may be an Overlord as well, and you have to follow his orders,” she forced him out the door, “But that doesn’t give you a free pass, or him one, to freely roam around another territory without facing the consequences.”

“Look lady-“

“Ah Rosie! I did not know you would be here tonight!” Jonesy appeared, getting off the stage with his bandmates. He quickly eyed Franky, “And you brought a friend I see.”

“Afraid noy, he’s actually Valentino’s friend then mine,” she told him.

Jonesy’s eye gave a twitch, “Really now.”

“Yes, and it seems that Evelyn is not aware of this, nor does he have her permission to be here,” she add.

“Wait the fuck-“

“Really now!” Jonesy said with fake cheerfulness, “Well unfortunately we can’t have that now, can we. Boys,” he snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, the band members secured Franky and started to drag him away, shouting and struggling against their hold.

From the dressing room Angel, Vaggie, Baxter, and Villa watch Franky being dragged away with Jonesy slowly following behind.

“I’ll let the boss know when the problem is taken care of,” Jonesy told Rosie.

“Thank you, Jonesy,” said Rosie.

Jonesy waved before disappearing.

Rosie smiled brighten before she turned to Angel and the others, who were in shock at what just happened.

“I must apologize for my tardiness!” Rosie said chirpily, passing the others as she came back into the room, making a beeline for the bag she brought, “Things got a little backed up for me but I managed to finish in time, as promised!”

She unzipped the bag, looking inside to check dress. After a quick exception, Rosie smiled and looked to Angel.

“I think you will be very pleased with the result,” she told him.

Angel, who still in shellshock of witnessing Franky being dragged away so easily, before Villa nudged him back to reality.

“Oh, uh. I’m sure it’s wonderful, Rosie. I trust ya,” he told her.

Her smile brightens, “Happy to hear! I look forward to seeing your performance tonight. You will look dazzling on the stage.”

“Thanks,” Angel blushed a little.

“Now, if you excuse me. I will leave you be to get ready. I wish you the best of luck,” Rosie said before she left the dressing room.

Once everyone was gone, and things were settled, Vaggie was the first to break thesilence, looking to Angel.

“How did… I don’t understand what just happened,” she mumbled.

“I hired Rosie to make a dress,” was all Angel said, still reeling from the same events.

“Alright I’m going to have to kick you and Baxter out now, Vaggie. I have work to do here,” declared Villa.

“Why are we being banished?” Baxter complained.

“Because I have a lot of work to do,” Villa started to push Vaggie and Baxter out the door, “I don’t have a lot of time to make Angel look glamorous, less than a half an hour, now that I think about it. And of course we’ve lost more time thanks to that awful Franky fellow, horrible fashion sense really. And these things just don’t happen with a snap of your fingers, in fact do you know how long it takes for me to fluffy my hair like this? It’s a long process, where I have to start-“

“We get it,” Vaggie cut in, dragging Baxter with her out the door, “We’ll do a quick once over while you guys get ready.”

As soon as they were out of the room Villa tried to fix the damage door closed.

Angel took this chance to look at the dress that Rosie brought him. Pulling the garment bag open, Angel let out a low whistle, impressed by what he saw.

“Ooh! It’s so pretty!” Villa exclaimed beside him.

“Yeah, Rosie did good,” he agreed.

“Well we don’t have much time,” Villa dragged Angel over to the vanity, pushing him to sit in the chair, “I am going to make you look so fabulous!” she sang fabulous.

Angel smiled at her through the mirror, “Alright, make me look gorgeous sweetheart.”

* * *

Tilly quickly rushed up the stairs to the reverse seating area, frantically searching for Evelyn until she spotted her, at the end of the balcony, sitting with Mimzy, Alastor, and their guest. She quickly made a beeline for Evelyn, dodging a waiter that she almost crashed into, and bumped into a guest, giving a quick apology.

Reaching their table Tilly rushed to Evelyn’s side, catching her mid sip of her wine when she noticed Tilly at her side. Tilly leaned in and whispered into Evelyn’s ear, catching half the table’s attention. They couldn’t hear what Tilly was saying but by the look on Evelyn’s face it couldn’t be good for it morphed into a scowl.

“Thank you, Tilly,” she told her once Tilly was finished.

Tilly looked almost hesitate to leave but gave a small nod and left.

“Everything alright?” Mimzy was the one to ask.

“Depends,” Evelyn finished her wine in one drink; she then called the waiter over to ordered a stronger drink.

“Is there a problem?” Alastor asked.

“I need you to promise me that you will not cause damage to my club tonight,” she firmly told him.

Alastor gave her a confuse look before a small disturbance caught Alastor’s eye at the stair entrance, in time to see Valentino, Vox and, Velvet appear.

At the sight of them Alastor’s expresion morphine into a sneer.

“I make no promises,” he told Evelyn.

She groaned at his answer, taking her drink when tthe waiter gave it her, and drank it all at one go.

It didn’t take long for Valentino to find their table, storming over with Vox and Velvet trailing behind him. Demons jumped out of Valentino’s way as fast as they could, seeing the absolute fury on his face and try not to be in his firing rang. They were already at their table before Charlie and the others realize that they had three Overlords looming over them.

“You!” Valentino hissed angrily, pointing to Evelyn, “fucking bitch! You think I will allow you to get away with this!”

Evelyn looked startled a little bit at Valentino’s sudden outburst before she quickly schooled her face, glaring up at the towering Overlord.

“Valentino, I must ask you keep your-“

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do you, bitch. You’ve really cross the line this time!” Valentino yelled.

Evelyn’s glare harded at him.

“My dear fellow,” Alastor intervene, standing up from his chair, “We are in public, no need to make a bad image for yourself.”

“As if you know anything about image, you hide in your little tower like the coward you are while the rest of us actually make an image. But then again, who wants to see your old ugly mug,” Vox said with a smirk at Alastor.

Alastor turned his gaze to Vox, his smile sharpening with his lip curling just the slightest bit.

“Valentino! It’s so nice to meet you again,” Charlie quickly jumped in, standing front of Valentino to hopefully pull the tension away from Alastor and Evelyn, “You look like you are doing well. Is that a new hat? It looks nice,” she put on her best smile.

Valentino turned his sharp gaze down to her, his angry seem to only increase more at the sight of Charlie, almost causing her to cower in fear. Almost.

“Don’t start with me, princess. You are just as responsible for all of this as much as this bitch,” he hissed at her.

“Leave her alone, Valentino,” Eveyln said firmly, “She not involved in this.”

“The Hell she is. She’s basically the reason for all of this and that fucking hotel!” said Valentino.

“Excuse me,” said Charlie, a little offended now, “I don’t see-“

Mimzy quickly reached over and grabbed Charlie’s wrist, bringing her over to her, Niffty and Crymini’s side, out of the firing rage.

“I think it would be best if we stay out of this,” Mimzy whispered to her and the pointing up to the now agitated chōchin-obakes, drifting in closer.

At that point, all the guests around their table fled either going down stairs or stay on the other side of the reserve area. Either way, things are going to get ugly.

“I must assist that you leave dear Charlie out of this. If it’s the hotel you are having problems with then bring them to me, I am the sponsor after all,” Alastor said calmly even though everyone could see his patients was slowly slipping.

“Some sponsor you are. You can’t even keep our guests at the hotel in order, let alone a flaky drug addict whore,” Vox threw at him.

The sound of a record screeching filled the air, making everyone wincing a little bit. The chōchin-obakes did not like the noise and quickly rushed over to Evelyn’s side, hissing at the new arrivals.

“How cute!” Velvet exclaimed, taking pictures of them.

“You have problems of how I run things, Vox,” Alastor’s smile tighten.

“Why would I. You’ve got to know what the fuck you are doing first,” Vox laughed.

Alastor’s eyes started to turn into radio dials; he made a move to step towards Vox, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t let the bastard get to you,” Husk suddenly appeared beside Alastor, blocking him from stepping towards Vox.

“Of thank goodness you’re here,” Charlie sighed in relief at Husk’s arrival.

“Saw these three come into the lobby a few minutes ago, I figured they would head up here to cause trouble” said Husk.

“Husker, dear boy. I must ask you step aside,” Alastor told him.

“Valentino, whatever troubles you tonight just take it up with me and stop terrorizing my guests,” Evelyn said calmly before her eyes shifted to Vox, “That is includes you.”

Vox gave her a mock innocent look.

“I demand what’s mine!” declared Valentino.

Evelyn sighed, “I already told you, there was no money in the agreement.”

“Bullshit! I’m losing money because of you and you damn club, you fucking whore!” yelled Valentino.

Evelyn’s eyes harden as they became a fiery blue as multiple tails began to flicker behind her.

“I must ask you, Valentino, to watch your language in the ladies presences,” voodoo symbols suddenly began appearing around Alastor.

Husk cursed and quickly backed away to Charlie and the others.

“They’re seriously going to fight, are they?” Charlie asked.

“I think so,” said Husk.

Valentino, Vox, and Velvet’s feature seem to start darkening themselves as they prepared to throw down. At this point everyone was cowering in fear on the reserve level, not daring to make a sound.

“What a beautiful evening it is!”

Rosie suddenly appeared from the stairs, smiling her daze of a smile, unfazed by the tension around her.

At the sound of Rosie’s voice, Alastor and Evelyn instantly relaxed.

“Evelyn!” Rosie quickly moved around Valentino, Vox, and Velevt to give Evelyn a hug and a kiss on the cheek

“Rosie,” Evelyn returned the hug and kiss, “I was not expecting you to show up. You told me you were working on something important tonight.”

“Yes, well it’s all finished and I look forward to the results,” Rosie giggled lightly.

“Rosie!” Alastor brightens, voodoo symbols gone and his eyes back to normal, “So happy to see you tonight.”

“And a pleasure it is to see you,” Rosie offer her hand to Alasotr, who took it and kissed it.

From the side, everyone watched in slightly shock at how quickly the mood changed.

“What the fuck just happen?” Crymini was the first to break the silence.

Husk let out a large sigh of relief, “Crises averted.”

“We were talking here,” Vox butted in, hissing.

“It was going to get fun,” Velevt whined, hold her knife in her hand.

“Well, there is no reason we still can’t talk and be civilize,” said Rosie, “Everyone please sit,” and by some weird magic of hers, everyone did.

Charlie and the others returned back to their table, now joined by Husk and Rosie, while Valentino, Vox, and Velvet sat at the table next to theirs.

Rosie quickly ordered a drink from a brave waiter that came over before she took her seat.

“Oh, Evelyn that reminds me,” Rosie began, “I was just backstage a moment again and I found one of Valentino’s men there.”

“What!” Evelyn exclaimed her glare quickly shifted to Valentino.

“Do not worry, I had Jonesy take care of it for you,” Rosie added.

“What’s going on,” Mimzy bravely asked.

“I would like to know that myself, Valentino,” Evelyn’s hard glare never left Valentino, he returned the favor.

“Franky is only getting what’s clearly mine, which you stole,” Valetino accused.

“As I said before, he came to me,” she clarified, “And I do not care if he’s your property, I do not accept trespassing of any kind.”

“I feel like we are missing something here,” Charlie whispered to Niffty, who nodded in agreement.

“Just give him back and we will be on our fucking merry way,” said Vox.

“You can have him back once the agreement is completed. Then you may retrieve him,” Evelyn firmly stated.

Valentino slammed his fist on the table, “I don’t fucking care about your agreement! I didn’t make it and he had no right to do it either. All business of any kind must go through me first, paid or unpaid!”

“I am not breaking our agreement,” said Evelyn.

“Then Franky will get him whether you like it or not,” he hissed.

“Yes, about that,” suddenly Jonesy came strolling by their tables.

“Jonesy,” Evelyn greeted him as he came up to her side, “Rosie just informed me of a pest in the back.”

“We did but it’s all taken care of boss. In fact,” Jonesy reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of bloody sunglasses and flicked them over to Valentino’s table, landing right in front of him, “bit of a mess but we kindly stuffed him in the back trunk of your limo for you.”

Seeing the bloody sunglasses seem to anger Valentino more as he glared at Jonesy, who was just giving him a smug smile.

“I’m assuming there’s no more issues then,” asked Evelyn, taking a drink from the waiter, “still on schedule?”

“It took longer than expected to deal with the pest, but we’re still making good time,” he informed her.

“Good.”

“Now, I better head on back to get the band ready if we want to start this on time,” said Jonesy as he left.

“Now,” Evelyn looked back to Valentino, smirking at him, “It would seem that you will just have to be patient and wait for the agreement to be completed.”

“Why you-“

“Val look how cute this place looks!” Velvet suddenly exclaimed, rushing to his side, “You guys really need to see all the cherry blossoms!” not waiting for an answer, she grabbed Valentino and Vox and dragged them over to the railing.

With them distracted for now, everyone at the table, other than the three Overlords, sighed in relief, as the tension died down.

“What was that all about?” Alastor was the one to ask Evelyn.

“Tonight’s performance is actually one of Valentino’s babies,” she answered.

Mimzy scuffed in shock, “And you let them preform instead of me?”

“That is a surprise,” Alastor added.

Evelyn shrugged.

“Oh, I think it will be quite an interesting performance that we will all enjoy,” said Rosie.

“But why?” Mimzy pouted, clearly upset by this new news.

“I believe everyone should have a chance of redemption, not matter what. But I’m having a hard time understand this,” said Charlie.

“Evelyn,” Mimzy began, “I’ve always work very hard on our shows, making sure they are the best, especially on Fortune Night. But why did you do this?”

“Because I can,” said Evelyn.

* * *

Villa quickly rushed through the crowd of bodies on the main floor, dodging waiters and randos as she made her way up the stairs to the reserve area, her phone in hand. Quickly she to the top, noticing a tension in the air and hesitated at the moment at the sight of Valentino, Vox, and Velvet, but moved back to her table to see Rosie has joined them.

Niffty was the first to notice her.

“Oh! Villa is back!” she announced.

Charlie turned around in her chair, to see Villa rushing over to them.

“I was starting to worry about you Villa. We lost you after-“

“I’m sorry I took so long but I like had so much to do in such a short amount of time. Not to mention had such a rude interruption that put me behind in my work, such a bother, but I managed to make it work, and it’s my best work. Or at least this week, wait until you see what I can really do with own my hair, now that’s something to be impress with, almost amazing really what I can to with a curling iron!” said Villa.

Everyone at the table fell silent, other than Rosie and Evelyn, as they stared at Villa in shock. Even Alastor was taken back.

“What?” she asked.

“You can fucking talk!” asked Husk, clearly shocked.

“Villa,” Charlie started, “I don’t know what to say but I’m happy you can actually speak.”

“Oh I’ve always been able to speak I just have a hard time shutting up when I get on a roll. You can say that I have the gift of gab, or curse, depending on how you look at it. But considering we are in Hell it’s probably a curse since we are all supposed to be tortured or some shit, but once I get a rolling I have a hard time stopping so I trying not to talk too much. So I don’t drive people crazy and all, that’s why I have a hard time keeping roommates and all. But my roommates weren’t peachy themselves, in fact I remember one time…”

The joy of knowing Villa could speak quickly died when she wouldn’t stop talking.

“She should have stayed a mute,” said Crymini.

The lights in the club slowly started to dim.

“It’s show time,” Evelyn announced, getting up from her seat, moving to the railing.

“Oh, marvelous,” Rosie got up and followed.

“Do we have to watch?” whined Crymini.

“Come on Crymini, it-“

“Yes you do!” Villa cut Charlie off, forcing Crymini out of her seat, with ease, and forced her to the railing.

“What the fuck! Let go you fucking chatter box!” Crymini cursed as she tried to get out of her hold.

But Villa ignored her and dropped her by the railing and went back to the table to round everyone up.

“Chop chop everyone!” she pushed everyone to the railing.

“What the fuck is up with you,” growled Husk as he was pushed to the railing.

Alastor was the last one at the table, chuckling in amusement to see Villa pushing everyone up front, until she came after him next.

He instantly tensed under her touch as she quickly pushed him forward. He was about to whirl around her, eyes turned radio dials, until she stopped when they reached the railing.

He opened his mouth to speak but Villa beat him to it.

“You!” she pointed to him, giving him a firm look, “Watch,” then pointed at the stage before moving away from him to stand by Charlie.

Alastor’s eyes went back to normal, confused.

The club darkened to the point that only the Chōchin-obakes gave a faint glow of light and two large spot lights on the stage, where the only lights inside

Villa held her phone up and set it to video mode.

Jonesy and the band slowly came out, getting ready.

“Wait,” Husk began squinting his eyes a little, “Is that Baxter?”

Sure enough, Baxter came out on stage, dressed in a nice suit as he stood in front of the audience, giving a deep bow to them before moving to the piano.

“Yeah, that’s him,” said Husk.

But the next one to come on stage was a shocker.

“Vaggie?” said Charlie, surprise to see her girlfriend come out with a guitar.

Alastor raised an eyebrow. Now that was as interesting twist of events.

He glanced over to Evelyn beside him, who was focus on the stage.

Vaggie moved over to Baxter, getting into position. She looked out into the crowd, suddenly feel very nervous at the amout of people staring at them.

Jonesy quickly talked to one of the bandmates real quick before he got into position and looked to Baxter with a nod, signaling to him they were ready anytime now.

Taking a deep breath Baxter focused on the sheet music, despite knowing this song by heart now. Hently he rested his hand on the keys and started to play.

A soft piano melody began to play through the whole club, almost a haunting sound. Soon the band slowly started to play softly before they got into a quiet even rhythm, it was quite beautiful.

A tall figure then immerged from the shadows, slowly coming up to the mic stand. A white fur woman came up, wearing a beautiful deep red dress with black beading on the shoulders, chest and torso. Black see through silk flowed down the hem of the dress, enough to highlight the deep red then to hide it, with match black elbow length gloves to go with it. Their hair was black and pulled to a low stylish loose bun on the right side of their shoulder. The woman was beautiful at first look, but upon closer look…

“Angel?” it was Alastor that whispered.

Charlie looked to him and then back down to see that he was right, “It is Angel.”

Angel gently took the stand in all four hands, looking out into the audience to see them staring at him, watching him. He could feel eyes staring at him from above but he dare to look up. He needed to keep his cool.

“~Come and share,” he began, “This painting with me~”

He paused as the cello player hit his note.

“~Unveiling of me. The magician that never failed.~” his voice floated through the club, catching everyone’s attention.

“~This deep sigh,” he did a sigh when he sang the word, “~Cover all my chest. Intoxicated by a major chord,” Baxter kicked up a little at that note, but kept in rhythm.

“~I wonder…~” Angel sang alone until Baxter joined in, singing light back vocals, “~…do I love you? Or the thought of you…?~”

From above Villa couldn’t help but smile as she recorded Angel and the others down below, forcing herself to stay still to get a good shot. Charlie and Niffty couldn’t help but smile at Angel singing, while Husk and Crymini started to crack a smile of their own.

Alastor remained static, watching carefully.

“~Slow…, love, sloooww. Only the weak…. Are not lonely,~” Angel and Baxter sang together.

Angel pause as Baxter continued to play the piano until Angel started up again, with the cello player kicking up a little louder “~Southern blue. Morning dew. Let down your guards. I love you's,~” Angel’s chest tighten as he felt like he just confessed his feelings, “~Ice cream castles. Lips to ear rhymes. A slumber deeper… than time…~”

Baxter started to sing with Angel again, with Jonesy coming in playing his trumpet, “Slow…, love, sloooww. Only the weak…. Are not lonely,~”

At the moment, Vaggie stepped forward as the spot light landed on her. She waited for Jonesy to finish playing before she slowly began to play her guitar solo.

Angel smiled as he watched Vaggie play, concentrating on her solo as she played in flawlessly like he knew she would. The last few days her guitar skills have definitely improve from all their rehearsals. She even started to smile when she knew that she had this in the bag as she finished up.

At that point it made him realize how grateful he is to Vaggie and everything that she’s done for him, to make his dream a reality. After this he’ll find some way to thank her for everything.

Once Vaggie’s solo ended Baxter came in with piano along with some light female backup singers, that at some point came on stage, singing a single note. It was last minute but Jonesy thought they would need them. It was a good call.

Vaggie came in a little again with her guitar as the music got a little more dramatic.

“~Slow…~” Angel sang low and quietly to the point it was almost a whisper, “slow, love slow…”

Both Vaggie and Jonesy kicked up a little.

“~Sloooowww! Loooovveee!~” Anggel sang higher, “Slooowww. Slow, Sloooowww oooh! Mmm.. ahhhh! Emmmhhmm…”

The music slowly died down other than Jonesy as he played a little trumped solo as the lights on the stage slowly died until he finished.

It only took a few seconds until the whole club broke out into large applauses as people cheered and whistled as the lights came back, Angel still on stage, smiling at the crowd, seeing all the happy faces out there while some people raised from their seats to give Angel a standing ovation.

They loved him.

Angel gave a wink to the crowd before stepped away from the mic and walked back stage with Vaggie and Baxter following behind him.

Up above Villa was cheering the loudest, jumping up and down as she whistled, irritating a few guest but she didn’t care. Charlie and Niffty were almost as energetic as Villa as they cheered just as loud, so happy to see their friends put on a wonderful surprise show for everyone.

Evelyn smiled in satisfaction at the audience reaction, standing up a little straighter as she turned her focus on Charlie and Mimzy.

“Not bad for a third rate act whore, wouldn’t you say?” she said with a smirk.

Charlie, even Niffty, cringed a little at that, remembering their reactions from earlier when they learned it was one of Valentino’s people preforming.

Villa already left to go meet everyone backstage.

Mimzy frowned at Evelyn, “We didn’t say that,” she argued.

“But you were all thinking of it. The moment you all knew, your faces told me how you felt,” said Evelyn, looking to Charlie, “I do apologize that I didn’t inform this to you, princess. But Angel swore me to secrecy to not tell anyone, and I honored his wishes.”

“No I understand,” said Charlie smiling, “I’m grateful that you did this for him. I mean I’m a little disappointed that Angel didn’t tell us this but I am glad we came and saw it.”

“Yeah!” Niffty agreed.

Evelyn smiled.

A low chuckle caught their attention as they noticed Valentino came over to them.

“I’ve got to admit, Angel Cakes was pretty good, quite the show stopper!” Valentino said in amusement.

Evelyn frowned at him, “Clearly you underestimated his talents, while I saw great potential in the boy. But clearly you don’t both looking for anything under the surface,” she threw at him.

He glared at her for that.

“But as much as I hate to say this,” said Evelyn, “My agreement with Angel Dust is now completed.”

“Wait a-“ Charlie started.

“I’ve still lost money because of you, so I still demand some form of payment. Angel isn’t free, you know,” demanded Valentino.

Evelyn glared.

Beside Charlie, Husk groaned again, “Here we go again,” he muttered before taking a drink from his whisky.

“Al, you might-“ Charlie turned to see that Alastor was gone.

* * *

Angel let out a large sigh of relief once they were safely hidden backstage from the audience while the band on stage started to play their next song.

Vaggie came up beside Angel, smiling at him

“You were amazing!” she told him.

He smiled, “Thanks, you were pretty good to. Got that solo down perfectly.”

She scuffed but smiled, “I’ll admit there was a part in there I was really worried about messing up. I almost did actually.”

“Well, you were both superb,” said Baxter, joining them, “I of course was magnificent as always.”

Angel chuckled, ruffling Baxter’s hair, “Whatever you say.”

“Well, the crowd sure did love us,” said Vaggie, “They weren’t that lively earlier before you got here. They really did love you, Angel.”

“You think so?” he asked.

She nodded, “Of course. No one could look away from you. Plus that standing ovation, Mimzy didn’t get-”

Suddenly Angel pulled Vaggie into a hug in her mid-speech, startling her.

“Thanks for everything, Vaggie,” he whispered, “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Once the shock of the sudden embrace dwindled, Vaggie happily returned the hug.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Baxter coughed, gaining their attention while he gave them an annoyed look.

“And thanks for your help too, pipsqueak,” Angel smirked.

Baxter rolled his eyes but smile none the less.

“Well,” Vaggie pulled away from Angel, “I’m going to go do a quickly clean up before we go out and find Charlie and the others. I need your help too, Baxter,” she said.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Angel asked.

“Nah, we’ve got this. Go rest for a bit,” Vaggie told hm.

“Alright.”

Vaggie and Baxter moved away from Angel, heading to their corner of where their equipment laid as Angel returned to the dressing to freshen up.

Angel couldn’t help but smile when he went back into his dressing room, moving over to his vanity mirror as he checked his make-up and fixed his wig a little.

“That was quite splendid performance.”

Angel jumped in his seat, whirling around behind him to see Alastor sitting casually on the couch, smiling.

“Fuck Al! Don’t do that to me,” Angel cursed.

Alastor’s smile grew.

“What are you doing here?” Angel asked, once the shock was gone.

Alastor didn’t answer right away but simply patted the spot next to him on the couch, “I believe it’s time we have a chat that’s been long overdue.”

Angel eyed Alastor for a moment but slowly made his way to the couch and sat beside Alastor.

“It was quite a surprise to see that you were the entertainment tonight,” Alastor started, “I have to admit I thought it was a little strange Evelyn got a new act for tonight and not have Mimzy do it.”

Angel blushed, looking away, “Yeah, I didn’t know I would be preforming on this night. I just asked her to give me a chance to sing, didn’t think she would give me this huge of an audience.”

“It just proves how much confidence she has your talent, quite a big feat you should be proud of,” said Alastor.

“So I’ve heard,”

“But I am curious of one thing.”

“Yeah,” Angel shyly look up to Alastor, who was staring at him intensively.

“Why? Why do all of this and be so secretive about it?”

Angel looked away from Alastor, staring down at his lap where his hands fisted into his dress.

“I…,” Angel began but quickly became a loss for words, “I just…”

“You wanted to gain my attention,” Alastor suddenly said.

Angel tensed up. That alone told Alastor his suspicions were correct.

Sighing, Alastor shifted until he was facing more of Angel and gently taking one of his hands, surprising Angel.

“Angel,” Alastor slowly began, “You don’t need to impress me to gain my attention when you already have it.”

Angel jerked his head up, “What?”

Alastor lightly chuckled, “My dear Angel Dust. Do you really think I would go out of my way to talk to anyone that I don’t deem worth of my time?”

“But you’re the sponsor of the hotel. It’s your fucking job to put up with me,” said Angel.

“Perhaps it is. As I said before, do I look like the kind of person that would waste my time with anyone?” Alastor said seriously.

Now that Angel thought about it there were many times that Alastor did purposely sought out for Angel, not for Charlie and the hotel’s sake either. It was mostly to just talk with Angel about this or that, basically anything that they enjoyed talking about with one another. There was also that one time, a few days back that Alastor actually came to the kitchen to help him prepare for dinner and stayed with him all night until it was time to retire. That was the night Mimzy was at the hotel, and Alastor chose to be around him

So many things that Angel didn’t realize happened between them. So many kind little gestures that were disguise to the naked eye, things that Alastor did not have to do unless he wanted to.

“I… I don’t understand,” said Angel.

Alastor sighed, taking Angel’s hand in his other one, “Angel Dust, I’m not sure how to really explain this but… I find you intriguing and fascinating, someone that knows how to keep me on toes and keep me guessing. I… I enjoy being around you. I think… I’ve become quite fawn of you really, perhaps even more than that.

Angel could feel his heart beating in his chest, “So you’re saying… you like me, Al. I mean really like me?”

At that moment Angel wittiness a rare sight of Alastor giving him a rare genuine soft smile.

“I believe I am,” Alastor confessed.

Angel couldn’t help but smile at Alastor, squeezing his hands as joy burst into his chest. In fact, his chest suddenly felt so much lighter, freer really, as if a weight he didn’t realize was there has been lifted.

How strange.

A flash from the door caught Angel and Alastor’s attention, turning to see Villa standing there with her smartphone.

“Oh! Don’t mind me, I didn’t mean to barge in. I thought Angel was in here alone. But I’ll leave you two be,” Villa said looking embarrassed and backed out the door. As soon as she was out they could hear her screaming, “This is my new home screen!”

Angel burst out laughing while Alastor turned red in utter embarrassment.

* * *

Vaggie, Baxter, and Villa returned back to the reserve area to only be ambushed by Charlie, who tackled Vaggie into a hug.

“You guys were great!” said Charlie when she pulled away, “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this. Why didn’t you tell me you were in on this, Vaggie?”

Vaggie lightly chuckled, “Thanks, but Angel didn’t want anyone to know. I wasn’t even supposed to know but I somehow got roped into.”

“You guys were so good,” Niffty bounced beside Charlie.

“You got some bad guitar skills,” said Crymini.

“You aren’t too bad either, Shorty,” Husk told Baxter.

“Where’s Angel?” Charlie asked.

Vaggie smiled, looking behind her to see Angel and Alastor coming up the stairs together, holding hands while smiling to one another.

The sight of them together suddenly dawned on Charlie and turned to Vaggie with a large smile, who nodded to Charlie to confirm her suspicions. Charlie let out a happy squeal before she rushed over to Angel.

“Angel you were so amazing out there!” Charlie suddenly hugged Angel before he could answer her, “I’m so proud of you!”

Angel smiled down at her, “Thanks”

“It was great!” said NIffty.

“Not to shabby,” commented Crymini.

“Huh, who knew you had it in you kid,” said Husk.

“Oh, Huskie! That’s so sweet of you,” Angel fluttered his eye lashes at him.

Husk scowled at him, making Angel laughed.

“Sorry, but you already missed out on this ride Huskie,” Angel told him, moving back to Alastor’s side, taking his hand again.

Husk glared at him for a moment but lighten a bit as he wittiness the display between Angel and Alastor.

The mood took a one eight when Angel move to only tense up when he spotted Valentino having a heated argument with Evelyn. And to make it worse, Vox was here with him, as well as Velvet, that stood behind him.

Alastor felt Angel’s hand tighten in his as he looked to see that Angel was staring at Valentino.

Gently, Alastor squeezed his hand a little, letting Angel know he was here, and that he was safe with Alastor. That seemed to have helped for Angel began to relax just a little. Having that little reassurance from Alastor helped him a lot, making him almost forget Valentino for the moment until he saw the pimp suddenly coming right atr him

Everyone seemed to see Valentino coming as well, quickly standing in front of Angel, Vaggie being the upfront to face Valentino.

“Angel Cakes,” Valentino purred, “You were wonderful out there, you really know how to knock them dead.”

That wasn’t what Angel expected from Valentino. But he’s been with him long enough that those pretty words that he offers up to Angel are nothing more than empty ones, not until Valentino shows his true feelings behind closed doors.

“You aren’t upset,” he carefully asked, “You were really against me being here.”

“Only because I didn’t know you actually had the talent to pull this off,” he told Angel.

Angel didn’t know if that was an insult or a compliment.

But Vaggie answered that for him.

“You were the one that wouldn’t let him come, I bet,” she growled at Valentino.

He sneered down at Vaggie.

“its okay, Vaggie,” Angel said from behind her, “It’s alright.”

Vaggie continued to glare at Valentino but didn’t move from her spot.

“Val!” Vox yelled, “Just grab your boy toy and lets get out of here already!”

Valentino rolled his eyes at Vox. But the bastard had a point, he didn’t want to be here any longer either.

“Angel, we’re heading back to the studio to finish the shot you abandon,” Valentino leered at him, his true feels starting to surface.

Alastor’s grip on his hand tightens, almost a painful grip now.

“But daddy-“ Angel began but Valentino cut him off.

“No buts! Now get outside and wait for me in limo while fix this mess you made.”

Angel cringed back at Valentino’s demand.

“Now wait a minute,” Charlie jumped in, “Angel has-“

“I don’t remember asking your opinion, princess.” Valentino glared at her.

“Now, now,” Alastor stepped up forward, shielding Angel a bit while he was still holding Angel’s hand, “I know you are an important man Valentino but surely an important-.”

“Stay out of this,” Valentino said to Alastor.

“This ain’t your fight, radio freak,” Vox chuckled coming to stand beside Valentino.

Alastor slightly snarled at him.

“Now boys,” Rosie quickly came and stood between then them, “This is no place to have a brawl. We’ve already scared most of Evelyn’s guests up here.”

She was right, since Valentino, Vox, and Velvet showed up people slowly flee from the reserve area to the point only a few brave souls stayed.

“Alastor,” Rosie looked to him, her smile now gone, replaced by a look of sadness, “Let him go.”

Alastor didn’t move.

“But Mrs. Rosie,” said Charlie, looking very upset.

“The deal is finished,” Evelyn strolled over, looking tired from fighting with Valentino, “We have no reason for him to stay here any longer if Valentino wishes to take him.”

Angel’s heart plummeted as the reality of this situation start to hit him. The joy ride tonight was over, and now it was time to face the cruel reality of the aftermath.

“No!” Vaggie was the one to protest, “You can’t take him. I refuse to let that happen!” she summoned a spear and aimed it at Valentino.

“Vaggie,”” Charlie moved to Vaggie’s side, just as upset as she was, “We can’t do anything. Valentino has Angel’s contract, and by the laws of Hell we have to obey them.”

Vaggie looked like she wanted to argue but she knew Charlie was right.

Valentino laughed, “That’s right! As long as I hold Angel’s contract, I own his soul!” Valentino snapped his fingers, summoning the said contract.

But nothing happened.

Vaggie and Charlie looked to each other, curious.

Valentino noticed that nothing happened and snapped his fingers again. But there was still nothing. He kept snapping his fingers but nothing seems to be happening.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Vox was the one to ask.

“The Hell,” Valentino kept snapping his fingers furiously, “Where’s Angel’s contract!”

Soon Alastor started laughing, an actual laugh of amusement, making Valentino even angrier.

“What the fuck are you laughing at?” Valentino yelled at him.

“My dear fellow, don’t tell me you haven’t realized it yet,” Alastor’s laughed died down to a chuckle, “The reason the contract won’t appear is because it no longer exist, therefore…”

“Angel Dust doesn’t belong to him!” Charlie squealed at the realization.

Angel froze. Is that true, did his contract no longer exist? But how?

“How the fuck is that possible!” yelled Valentino.

“What’s the final print?” Vox asked.

“If Angel can find someone that loves him without feeling any sexual desires for him,” said Valentino, grinded his teeth.

Suddenly, both Rosie and Evelyn burst out laughing.

“What are you two laughing at!” now Valentino was furious.

Rosie was the one to answer, “It’s quite obvious, dearie. Your contract has been broke because of the final print.”

Valentino still didn’t seem to understand.

“It seemS,” Evelyn jumped in, smirking in pure amusement, “that Angel and Alastor are now an item,” gesturing to them still holding hands.

“And it so happen that Alastor is asexual,” said Rosie.

“Meaning, he has no sexual feelings at all,” said Evelyn.

Oh shit! They were right! Al was ace.

That feeling in his chest he felt earlier that must have been when the contract broke when Alastor confessed his feelings to Angel.

Angel suddenly burst out laughing startling Charlie and the others a little.

“That’s awesome!” he continued to laugh, “This is the best moment of my exisitance!”

“No!” Valentino shrieked in distress.

“I am sorry, Valentino,” said Rosie, “But Angel Dust no longer belongs to you.”

“And I will kindly ask you to leave my club and stop harassing my guests one last time. And I mean all guests,” said Evelyn, leaving no room for argument.

At this point Valentino was seething, glaring at Charlie and her group, but mostly focused on Angel and Alastor.

“This isn’t over, because we are far from done here Angel,” said Valentino, “You better watch you back.”

“I will not repeat myself again, Valentino,” Evelyn’s voice hardens.

He glared at them a little bit longer before Valentino slowly walked away and stormed for the stairs with Vox and Velvet following behind.

Everyone cheered as soon as they were gone, and hugged Angel and congratulated him on his new found freedom.

“I’m so happy for you, Angel,” Vaggie was the last to hug him, squeezing him tight.

“Thanks Vaggie,” he told her, “it wouldn’t have happened if it was for you.”

She scuffed but smiled, “Please, don’t flatter me. I’m not going to give you any more good boy coins.”

“Aw man!” he whinned.

Everyone laughed.

“Angel dear,” Evelyn called, moving back to their table, “Come sit with me for a moment.”

Curious, Angel looked to Alastor for answered to what she might want but all he received was a shrug, for Alastor didn’t know what she was up to either.

Everyone moved back to the table, taking their seats with Angel and Alastor sitting right across from Evelyn and Mimzy. Angel couldn’t help but notice the intense look that Mimzy was giving him.

“First,” Evelyn began, “I want to congratulate you on your new found freedom, Angel. I am truly happy for you”

“Um, thanks,” he answered.

“But it would seem that even though you are free you are not exactly safe from Valentino,” she told.

She wasn’t wrong. Knowing Valentino as well as Angel does he knew that his former pimp wouldn’t be taking this lying down.

“So, I wish to make a proposition with you,” Evelyn began, “I would like to hire you here are the Fire Fox Club.”

That wasn’t what he was expecting.

“You want to hire me?” Angel asked shocked.

“Yes. I was very impress with you performance tonight, and judging by the crowd’s reaction, they were just as impress. So I want to bring you on full time. But,” she continued, “There may be time you have to help out around the place other than preforming. If you agree, you will be under my protection from Valentino if he ever tries to pull something with you. I look after my people here.”

This was almost too good to be true.

“I appreciate the offer, and everything, Evelyn. I really do. And I want to thank you for giving me the chance to perform as well. But I have to admit, and no offence when I say this, but Valentino offered me something very similar to that and…” Angel trialed off, not wanting to go into details.

“I understand,” she told him, smiling, “Which is why I am also offering to allow Charlie, as well as Alastor, to look over our contract together before you agree. If they see something they don’t like, I am willing to negotiate.”

“Really,” Charlie was the one to answer, looking happy to hear that she can approve this contract for Angel on his behave.

“Yes,” said Evelyn.

“I do have a request though,” said Angel.

“And what is it?” it she asked.

“Can Vaggie also look over it, the finally review at least,” he asked.

Vaggie sat next to Angel, looking very surprise by this request.

“Not that I don’t trust Charlie and Alastor to look it over for me but it would make me happy to know that Vaggie did too,” Angel smiled at Vaggie next to him.

She returned the smile.

“Very well,” Evelyn agreed to, “Do we have an agreement then.”

Angel looked at everyone at the table not sure if he really should take it or not. His gaze landing on Alastor last, who was looking at Angel with a gentle expression.

“It’s your choice, and I will support it,” said Alastor.

Angel smiled looking back to Evelyn.

“I think we have a deal then,” he told her.

Evelyn smiled, “Wonderful! Now,” she rose from the table, “Enough business tonight. We all came here to have fun. Please enjoy yourselves everyone!”

Everyone cheered and rose from their table to head downstairs. Angel was the last one to rise from his seat when Mimzy came over to him.

“It would seem we will be working close together!” she smiled up at him but Angel can easily see it was forced, “I look forward to working with you, Angel.”

“Yeah,” he answered carefully, “I’m looking forward to it too, Mimzy.”

She nodded and went to join the others.

Angel watched her leave, noting that he’s going to have to watch himself with her. Working at the studio for years Angel has gotten pretty good at reading people and when they were giving you bullshit under a smiling face, and Mimzy was no different.

“Come on, Angel!” Villa called him.

“Coming!” he called, rising from his seat and quickly joined Villa as they headed downstairs together.

Everyone moved on to the main part of the club to see that people were really starting to get a little livelier. In fact it seems like they extended the dance floor from what Angel could tell. He could see that Vaggie and Charlie were already on the dance floor, along with Niffty, who found a dance partner, while Crymini standing on the side, taking pictures. It took a moment for Angel to locate Baxter until he spotted him talking to Evelyn by the stage, wondering what they were taking about.

Villa suddenly left Angel’s side as he watch her rush over to Husk and dragged him away from the poker table and onto the dance floor. He chuckled in amusement as Angel watch Husk struggle against Villa but failed.

“Care for a dance?”

Angel looked to a familiar red hand offered in front of him, looking up to see Alastor smiling at him.

Angel smiled, taking his hand.

Together, they walked onto the dance floor just as the song ended, getting ready for the next one.

Evelyn and Baxter walked up the stairs to the stage when the song ended. Baxter happily took his spot at the piano once more while Evelyn walked over to Jonesy, saying something to him before moving to the mic stand.

People began to clap when they saw Evelyn move to the mic stand and took the mic in hand.

“Thank you. I hope everyone is enjoying their evening here at the Fire Fox, on Fortune Night?” she asked.

She received a few cheers and whistles.

She smiled, “Alright, I got a special request tonight. And I just want to say, Alastor,” she looked at him out on the dance floor, gaining his attention, “Just know that Rosie requested this.”

Curious, Alastor looked around until he spotted Rosie at the bar, smiling at him.

“What’s happening?” Angel asked him.

“Not sure,” said Alastor.

“Alright!” Evelyn looked to the band, “Hit boys!”

Baxter started playing the piano in a tune that Alastor was all too familiar with.

Alastor groaned, but in good humor as he recognized the song.

The rest of the band started to come in, the drummer kicking in at first before the rest follow.

Evelyn took the mic out of the stand start to move around on stage “~In the South Land there's a city Way down on the river.~”

Angel finally got it why Alastor was embarrassed. He remembered on one of their drunken night at the bar, Alastor confessed that he really enjoy the Disney movie, The Princess and The Frog, to Angel because it reminded him of home.

Angel laughed lightly.

“Of course Rosie would request this,” Alastor said over the music,

“Just shut up and dance with me smiles,” Angel told him, pulling Alastor deeper onto the dance floor.

“~Where the women are very pretty,~” Evelyn floated around on stage, dancing a little at the music, “~And all the men deliver~”

Vaggie and Charlie moved towards Angel and Alastor’s direction, laughing and smiling at them.

Evelyn moved over to Jonesy, lifting the mic for him to sing “~They got music. It's always playin'. Start in the day time, go all through the night.~”

She pulled the mic back to her and sang “~When you hear that music playin'. Hear what I'm saying, it make you feel alright~”

Jonesy kicked up with his trumpet a bit.

“~Grab somebody, come on down.~” Evelyn continued to sing, “~Bring your paintbrush, we're paintin' the town. Honey, there's some sweetness goin' 'round.~”

Jonesy moved to the mic where he sang together with Evelyn, “~Catch it down in New Orleans.~”

Villa managed to get poor Husk to dance with her, as she pulled him closer to join the others at the center of the dance floor. Husk was scowling at her but made no real move to get away from Villa.

Evelyn did a little twirl at the center of the stage, before she stop and sang, “~We got magic, good and bad. Make you happy or make you real sad. Get everything you want, lose what you had. Down here in New Orleans.~”

Angel laughed Alastor as gave him a twirl and then brought him back. Angel always knew Alastor was a good dancer but didn’t think he was this good.

Jonesy came up to Evelyn, who held the mic up to him again, after he finished playing. “~Hey partner, don't be shy. Come on down here and give us a try. You wanna do some livin' before you die.”

“~Do it down in New Orleans.” Evelyn and Jonesy sang together.

Band played for a moment while Evelyn floated across the stage again, watching everyone down below having a good old time, including the newest member of the Fire Fox Gang.

Angel looked so happy dancing with Alastor, who looked just has happy in return, making her smile.

“~Stately homes and mansions. Of the Sugar Barons and the Cotton Kings. Rich people, poor people, all got dreams,~” Evelyn paused as she prepared the last big note of the last verse, “~Dreams do come true in New Orleans!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Valentino wanted Angel to do is Lollipop (Candyman) by Aqua.
> 
> The song Evelyn sang is Down In New Orleans by Dr. John/Disney
> 
> Angel's song is Slow, Love, Slow by Nightwish
> 
> This whole thing was inspired by this one song! I love Nightwish and I love this song! I'm a huge Nightwish fan that could just talk about how great they are but we've got other things to talk about.
> 
> I decided to take a shot at Villa's personality, I think this is probably roughly along the lines of what Vivi has planned for her. I just really wanted to give her a speaking role.
> 
> Thank you for reading this everyone, it's been a long journey and I can't believe this thing is actually finished! I hope you guys really enjoyed this and much as I have
> 
> To get the latest updates, follow me on Twitter.
> 
> https://twitter.com/whitewinds2

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos!


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